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BX  8915  .B252  1914 
Babcock,  Maltbie  Davenport, 

1858-1901. 
Thoughts  for  every-day 


1  t  vi  r\n 


Hi^ 


THOUGHTS   FOR 
EVERYDAY  LIVING 


JFiftg*Cent  JReligiou*  Series 

Price  50  cents  each  net.    Postage  additional. 


The  Social  Message  of  the  Modern  Pulpit 

By  Rev.  Charles  Reynolds  Brown 

A  Study  of  Christian  Missions 
Sixty  Years  with  the  Bible 

By  Prof.  William  Newton  Clarke,  D.D. 

The  Bible,  Its  Origin  and  Nature 

By  Prof.  Marcus "Dods,  D.D. 

The  Origin  and  Permanent  Value  of  the  Old  Testament 

By  Prof.  Charles  Foster  Kent,  Ph.D. 

The  Gospel  and  the  Church 

By  Alfred  Loisy 

The  Apostolic  Age 

By  Prof.  James  Hardy  Ropes 

Outlines  of  the  Life  of  Christ 

By  Prof.  W.  Sanday,  D.D.,  LL.D..  Litt.D. 

The  Passing  Protestantism  and  Coming  Catholicism 

By  Rev.  Newman  Smyth,  D.D. 

A  Model  Superintendent 

By  Rev.  H.  Clay  Trumbull 

Sermons  to  Young  Men 
The  Story  of  the  Psalms 

By  Dr.  Henry  van  Dyke 

Epochs  in  the  Life  of  Paul 
Epochs  in  the  Life  of  Jesus 

By  Prof.  A.  T.  Robertson,  D.D. 

The  Faith  of  a  Modern  Protestant 

By  Prof.  Wilhelm  Bousset 

God's  Choice  of  Men 

By  Rev.  William  R.  Richards,  D.D. 

Theology  and  Human  Problems 

By  Prof.  Eugene  W.  Lyman,  D.D. 

Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living 

By  Dr.  Maltbie  Davenport  Babcock,  D.D. 

Faith  and  Sight 

By  Rev.  William  P.  Merrill 

The  Sources  of  Religious  Insight 

By  Prof.  Josiah  Royce 


Charles  Scribner's  Sons,  New  York 


THOUGHTS  FOR 
EVERY-DAY  LIVING 


FROM  THE 
SPOKEN  AND  WRITTEN  WORI 
OF 

MALTBIE   DAVENPORT   BABCOCK 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES   SCRIBNERS   SONS 

1914 


COPYBIGHT,  1901,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


MALTBIE  DAVENPORT  BABCOCK,  D.D. 

1858  —  1901 

first  presbyterian  church,  lockjport,  n.  y.,  1881. 

Memorial  Presbyterian  Church,  Baltimore,  Ms.,  1887. 
Brick  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  City,  1900. 


(Found,  after  Dr.  Babcock's  death,  on  the  fly-leaf  •/ 
hit  pocket  Bible.) 

Riverdale,  N.  Y.,  November  7,  1899. 
Committed  myself  again  with  Christian  brothers  to 
unreserved  docility  and  devotion  before  my  Master. 


Many  of  those  who  looked  to  Dr.  Babcock  for 
help  and  inspiration  have  asked  that  some  of  his 
words  might  be  put  into  permanent  form  ;  this 
book  is  the  simple  outgrowth  of  that  request. 

The  sources  from  which  selection  could  be 
made  are  few.  Dr.  Babcock's  sermons  were 
preached  from  full,  but  intricate,  notes,  which  no 
one  else  could  develop,  and  he  had  written  no 
book. 

Many  of  the  selections  have  been  already 
printed  in  the  Sunday- School  Times,  The  Brown 
Memorial  Monthly,  The  Christian  Endeavor 
World,  and  Forward;  and  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment is  due  to  these  publications.  Appreciation 
and  thanks  are  also  due  to  those  who  have  con- 
tributed— from  notes  made  at  public  services — 
many  of  the  most  helpful  phrases,  and  to  those 
who  have  shared  personal  letters. 


The  verses,  which  were  written  in  moments  of 
recreation,  are  added ;  and  the  resulting  book  is 
printed  in  loving  memory  of  one  who  lived  what 

he  taught. 

Katharine  Tallmav  Babcock, 
Mary  R.   Sakford. 


CONTENTS 


Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living 

Silent  Testimony 

Indomitable  Power  of  the  Will 

Wishing  and  Willing 

Opportunity  of  Trouble    . 

Conscientiousness 

To- Day  and  To-Morrow  . 

Opportunities  . 

Self-Betrayal    . 

Unimportance  of  Philosophy 

On  the  Watch 

Amusement  Only  for  the  Workers 

Dependableness 

Assured  Victory 

Criticism  .  .         • 

Good  Intentions 

Confessing  Our  Sins 

No  Place  for  Anxiety 

Living  Stones 

Largeness 

Joy  in  the  Thorn    . 

The  Friendship  of  Christ 

Christ  is  All    . 

Making  Things  Sunshiny 

Roots  and  Fruits 

No  Harm  in  Loving  the  World 


FAME 

1 
1 

1 

2 
2 
S 
3 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 
5 
6 
6 
7 
7 
7 
8 
8 
9 
9 
10 
10 
10 


CONTENTS 


Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living — Conti 

nued:    PA„ 

Saved  for  this  Life 

11 

When  Life  is  of  Small  Account 

11 

Living  Water           . 

►     12 

Possession         .... 

12 

Possibilities      .... 

,      13 

Thrift  that  Brings  Beggary     , 

,      IS 

Second  Sight 

.      14 

Excuses 

.      14 

Always  Doing  Better 

.      15 

Working  with  God 

.      15 

More  Right  than  We  Know 

.      15 

Life's  Story     . 

.     16 

Living  in  a  Castle  of  Love 

.     16 

Glory  of  the  Commonplace 

.     17 

Something  Better  than  Explanation 

.     17 

Feeble  Faith  is  Better  than  None 

.     18 

Christ  in  All  . 

.     18 

Obedience 

.     19 

Just  Filling  Our  Own  Place 

.     19 

"  The  Uses  of  Adversity  " 

.      20 

Being  One's  Self     . 

.     20 

The  Rod  and  the  Child 

.     21 

Honesty  in  Prayer  . 

.     22 

The  Mission  of  Distance 

.     22 

Saying  "Good-By" 

.     2S 

Pain  as  a  Friend     . 

.     23 

Heroism  Every  Day 

.     24 

Wants  and  Needs    . 

.     24 

"Things  that  are   Behind" 

.     25 

Suffer  Little  Children      . 

.     *5 

xii 


CONTENTS 

Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living — Cont 

inued:  PA„ 

Uncommon  Service 

.     26 

Forgiveness      .... 

.     27 

Making  the  Best  of  Things     . 

.     27 

Looking  Down 

.     28 

Suggestion  Rather  than  Definition 

.     28 

Prejudgment    .... 

.     29 

Success  or  Failure   . 

.     29 

False  Values 

.     30 

Letting  Things  Make  the  Best  of 

Using  Our  Tools  While  We  May 

.     31 

Folly  of  Being  Powerless 

.     32 

What  is  Honesty?  . 

.     32 

God's  Machinery 

.     33 

When  Sympathy  is  Needed     . 

.     33 

Good  Listening        . 

.     34 

Is  Death  an  Interruption? 

.     34 

Showing  Spirituality 

What  is  Good  Hearing? 

.     36 

Why  Does  Your  Tree  Stand? 

.     36 

A  Practical  Way  to  Lay  Down  You] 

r  Life     37 

Better  than  Worshipping  the  Bible 

.     37 

Doing  and  Knowing 

.     38 

Goodness  and  Usefulness 

•     39 

Merit  of  Concealing  Troubles 

.     39 

Friend  Necessity     .         .         .         . 

.     40 

Up  or  Down  Stream 

.     40 

Securities  Well  Invested 

.     41 

Hope 

.     42 

Life's  Arena    . 

.     42 

Watching  the  Proportions 

.     43 

CONTENTS 


Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living — Continued:   PAea 
Honesty  in  Consecration  .  .  .43 

Now  the  Only  Time  .  .  .  .44 
Seeing  the  Good     .  .         .         .         .45 

Boundlessness  of  God's  Purposes  .  .  45 
Getting  Ahead  of  Whom?       .         .         .46 

Faithfulness  First 47 

Living  Belief 47 

Genuine  Christianity         .  .  .  .48 

God's  Knowledge  of  What  We   Shall  Be     49 

Sin 49 

Christlike 50 

More  than  "  I  Am  Sorry  "       .  .  .50 

Folly  of  Trifling  with  Trifles   .         .         .51 
Holding  in  the  Bad  Bacilli     .  .         .52 

Making  Duty  a  Delight  .         .         .52 

Disposition       .         .         .         .         .         .53 

Contentment      .         .         .         •         •         .54 
To-Day    .......     54 

Obligation  to  Receive      .         .         .         .55 

Foggy  Morning        .  •         .  .  .56 

Deathlessness  .     57 

Principles  Rather  than  Rules  .  .  .57 
Working  Out  Salvation    .  .  .  .58 

A  Good  World 59 

The  Ascension  .....     59 

A  Habit  Worth   Forming         .         .         .     60 

A  Specialist 6l 

Looking  Backward  .  .  .  .  .62 
A  Pattern  for  Us  All  .  .  .  .  62 
Uselessness  of  Altruism  Without  Christ  .     63 


CONTENTS 

Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living— 

-Continued :    PAGB 

The  Witness  of  Life 

.      64 

Speaking  a  Ship 

.     65 

"Either  Pull,  or  Bail,  or  Cut 

Bait"        .     65 

God's  Love  is  Eternity    . 

.     66 

Captivity           . 

.     67 

Acknowledging  Mistakes 

.     68 

Transmutation 

.     68 

A  Message       . 

.     69 

Disgrace  of  a  Joyless  Life 

.     70 

Business  vs.   Religion 

.     71 

Circumstances 

.     72 

Kinship  in  Kindness 

.     73 

The  Ethics  of  Perfection 

.     73 

The  Inevitable 

.     74 

Normal  and  Abnormal 

.     75 

Living  Down  Consequences 

.     76 

Alienating  Power  of  Sin 

.     77 

Providence 

.     77 

Joy  in  All  Things  . 

.     78 

Over-Sensitiveness   . 

.     79 

The  Test  of  Possessions  . 

.     80 

That  Which  Cannot  be  Taker 

l  Away       .     81 

God's  Answer 

.     82 

Fitness     .... 

.     83 

The  Abundant  Life 

.     84 

"  Rejoice  Evermore  " 

.     85 

Stewardship 

.     86 

Discouragement 

.     87 

Worth  Believing 

.     88 

Friendship  and  Right 

.     89 

CONTENTS 


Thoughts  for  Every-Day  Living — Continued:   PAeB 
Doing  and  Discovering    .  .  .  .90 

Why  Complain? 91 

The  Beatitude  of  Endurance   ...     92 
Common  Days  .....     93 

Success    .......     94 

Blessedness  of  Eternal  Service  .         .     95 

Battlement-Building  .  .  .  .96 

A  Lesson  from  Peter  the  Rock       .         .98 

Steadfastness 99 

The  Try-Square 101 

Loyalty,  Not  Feeling       .  .  .  .102 

Encouragement         .  .  .  .  .104 

A  Verse  for  the  New  Year  .  .  .106 
Our  Business  in  the  World  .  .  .108 
The  Father  of  Lights  .  .  .  .112 
The  Carpenter's  Son         .  .  .  .116 

Written  on  Shipboard,  February,   1901     .   121 


Prayers  : 

At  Communion  Service 
On  Christmas  Day  . 
On  Easter  Day 
On  Thanksgiving  Day 
After  the  Offering  . 
On  Various  Occasions 


.  137 
.  137 
.  138 
.  139 
.  140 
.  140 


Passages  from  Letters  : 

On  the  Death  of  a  Child 
On  the  Death   of  a  Husband 
On  the  Death  of  a  Husband 


151 
151 
152 


CONTENTS 


Passages  fpom  Letters — Continued  :  PAQB 

To  One  in  Great  Anxiety        .  .  .152 

Written  at  Bethel,  April,  1901,  on  Hear- 
ing   of    the     Death     of    a    Friend's 

Mother 153 

On     Hearing     of    the     Wounding    of    a 

Friend  at  the  Battle  of  El  Caney    .   154 
To  One  in  Great  Distress        .         .         .154 
To  a  Young  Woman  in   Special  Tempta- 
tion and  Need  .  .  .  .155 

To  the  Same 156 

To  the  Same 157 

To  a  Friend  on  the  Christian's  Hope      .   157 
To    a    Friend     on     the    Communion     of 

Saints        .  .  .  .  .  .158 

To  One  Who  Was  Greatly  Discouraged  .   158 
To  a  Harvard  Freshman  .  .  .158 

Written  to  a  Friend  Over  Seventy  Years 
of  Age,  Who  Was   in  His   Last  Ill- 
ness .  .  .  .  .  .159 

To  the  Same  Friend  a  Month  Later       .   159 
To  the  Same  Friend  Two  Months  Later, 

in  May 160 

On  the  Death  of  a  Child        .         .         .   l6l 
On  the  Death  of  a  Father      .         .         .162 
Poems : 

"Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread 

O  That  I  May  Grow 

In  the  Furrow 

Be  Strong         .... 

The  All  in  All 


167 
167 
167 
168 
168 


CONTENTS 


Passages  from  Letters — Continued  :  PAOB 

To  One  in  Great  Anxiety        .  .  .152 

Written  at  Bethel,  April,  1901,  on  Hear- 
ing   of    the     Death     of    a    Friend's 

Mother 153 

On     Hearing     of    the     Wounding    of    a 

Friend  at  the  Battle  of  El  Caney    .   154 
To  One  in  Great  Distress        .  .  .154 

To  a  Young  Woman  in   Special  Tempta- 
tion and  Need  .  .  .  .155 
To  the  Same  .         .         .         .         .         .156 

To  the  Same 157 

To  a  Friend  on  the  Christian's  Hope  .  157 
To    a    Friend     on     the    Communion     of 

Saints .158 

To  One  Who  Was  Greatly  Discouraged  .   158 
To  a  Harvard  Freshman  .  .  .158 

Written  to  a  Friend  Over  Seventy  Years 
of  Age,  WTho  Was   in  His   Last  Ill- 
ness .         .         .         .         .         .159 

To  the  Same  Friend  a  Month  Later  .  159 
To  the  Same  Friend  Two  Months  Later, 

in  May 160 

On  the  Death  of  a  Child        .         .         .161 
On  the  Death  of  a  Father      .         .         .162 
Poems : 

"Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread"  .  167 
O  That  I  May  Grow  .  .  .  .167 
In  the  Furrow  .  .  .  .  .167 

Be  Strong 168 

The  All  in  All 168 

xvii 


THOUGHTS   FOR 
EVERYDAY  LIVING 


THOUGHTS    FOR 
EVERY-DAY    LIVING 


Silent  Testimony. 

Men  are  convinced  more  quickly  and  certainly  by 
what  they  see  than  by  what  they  hear.  It  is  not, 
"  Let  your  lips  speak,"  but,  "  Let  your  light  shine." 
The  living  epistle  is  not  known  and  heard  of  all 
men,  but  known  and  read. 

Indomitable  Power  of  the  Will. 
No  man  can  ever  estimate  the  power  of  the  will. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  divine  nature,  all  of  a  piece 
with  the  power  of  creation.  We  speak  of  God's 
fiat.  "  Fiat  lux  et  lux  erat "  (Let  light  be  and 
light  was).  Man  has  his  fiat.  The  achievements 
of  history  have  been  the  choices,  the  determina- 
tions, the  creations  of  the  human  will. 

Wishing  and  Willing. 

Some  men  seem  to  think  that  when  they  have 

praised  virtue  they  have  done  their  duty  by  it. 

"  How  beautiful  is  goodness  ! "  we  say.     "  O  that 

I  were  good ! "     If  this  is  only  wistful,  we  are 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

wrong.  If  it  expresses  our  decision  to  attain 
that  goodness,  we  are  right.  To  praise  a  virtue 
without  determining  to  possess  it  is  a  first  step 
toward  moral  suicide.  To  wish  and  not  to  will  is 
spiritual  collapse,  a  house  on  the  sand. 


Opportunity  of  Trouble. 

The  tests  of  life  are  to  make,  not  break  us. 
Trouble  may  demolish  a  man's  business  but  build 
up  his  character.  The  blow  at  the  outward  man 
may  be  the  greatest  blessing  to  the  inner  man. 
If  God,  then,  puts  or  permits  anything  hard  in 
our  lives,  be  sure  that  the  real  peril,  the  real 
trouble,  is  what  we  shall  lose  if  we  flinch  or  rebel. 


Conscientiousness. 
Although  there  is  nothing  so  bad  for  con- 
science as  trifling,  there  is  nothing  so  good  for 
conscience  as  trifles.  Its  certain  discipline  and 
development  are  related  to  the  smallest  things. 
Conscience,  like  gravitation,  takes  hold  of  atoms. 
Nothing  is  morally  indifferent.  Conscience  must 
reign  in  manners  as  well  as  morals,  in  amusements 
as  well  as  work.  He  only  who  is  "faithful  in 
that  which  is  least "  is  dependable  in  all  the 
world. 

2 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

To-Day  and  To-Morrow. 

Part  of  to-day  belongs  to  to-morrow,  as  the 
seed  belongs  to  the  shoot,  as  the  foundation  be- 
longs to  the  building.  So  to-day  owes  its  best 
to  to-morrow,  for  not  to  do  right  to-day  may 
ruin  to-morrow.  But  the  reverse  is  not  true. 
To-morrow  cannot  ruin  to-day.  Time's  wheel 
does  not  run  backward.  Banish,  then,  fore- 
boding and  anxious  forecast,  and  fill  to-day  with 
faithful  work,  with  kindness  and  courage  and 
hope  ;  and  so  you  will  keep  to-morrow  from  being 
a  marplot,  and  make  it  a  good,  honest  to-day 
when  it  comes. 


Opportunities. 

Opportunities  do  not  come  with  their  values 
stamped  upon  them.  Everyone  must  be  chal- 
lenged. A  day  dawns,  quite  like  other  days ;  in 
it  a  single  hour  comes,  quite  like  other  hours  ; 
but  in  that  day  and  in  that  hour  the  chance  of  a 
lifetime  faces  us.  To  face  every  opportunity  of 
life  thoughtfully  and  ask  its  meaning  bravely  and 
earnestly,  is  the  only  way  to  meet  the  supreme 
opportunities  when  they  come,  whether  open- 
faced  or  disguised. 


THOUGHTS   tOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Self-Betrayal. 

"  Every  man  imputes  himself," — so  Tennyson 
once  said.  It  is  a  startling  thought.  Judging 
is  self- betrayal.  By  the  judgment  with  which  we 
judge,  we  are  ourselves  judged.  By  our  words 
we  are  justified  or  condemned.  We  should  be 
more  slow  to  judge,  if  we  realized  that  the  judg- 
ment we  utter  transfers  us  instantly  from  the 
judge's  bench  to  the  prisoner's  bar. 

Unimportance  of  Philosophy. 

Men  had  bodies  before  they  ever  thought  of 
writing  treatises  on  physiology.  Life  comes  be- 
fore letters,  and  experience  before  explanation. 
Philosophy  is  the  description  of  experience.  The 
Bible  is  not  the  cause  of  religion,  but  the  record 
of  it.  The  thing  of  supreme  importance  is  to 
possess  the  facts  of  religion,  a  personal  relation  to 
God,  rather  than  a  correct  philosophy  about  the 
facts.     That  will  take  care  of  itself. 

On  the  Watch. 

"  Watch  and  pray."  Being  on  the  watch  often 
changes  the  character  of  our  prayers.  We  blun- 
der along,  and  fall,  and  have  to  pray  for  forgive- 
ness.    Had  we  been  watchful,  it  would  have  been 

4 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

a  prayer  for  help,  and  then  praise  for  victory.  Is 
not  the  prayer  to  be  forearmed  better  than  the 
prayer  to  be  forgiven  ? 

Amusement  Only  for  the  Workers. 

The  boy  who  does  not  go  to  school  does  not 
know  what  Saturday  is.  If  a  man  would  know 
what  amusement  means,  let  him  earn  it,  and  know 
its  re-creation.  No  man  has  a  right  to  amuse- 
ment, or  knows  the  real  joy  of  it,  who  has  not 
earned  the  right  by  work. 

Dependableness. 

"  Surely  the  Captain  may  depend  on  me  "  may 
not  be  the  best  thing  to  say  before  others,  but, 
rightly  meant,  it  is  a  noble  self-commitment. 
Dependable  people  ! — their  price  is  above  rubies. 
The  world  would  be  a  dreary  place  if  there  were 
not  some  Christians  who  need  no  prodding  or 
watching  ;  who  can  be  told,  and  then  trusted. 

Assured  Victory. 

Most  victories  are  secured  in  advance.  He 
who  has  absolutely  decided  goes  easily  through 
the  unsettling  voices  of  earth,  and  because  of  a 
private  covenant  with  his  God  is  safeguarded 
against  sinful  attractions  or  distractions.  Jesus 
5 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

said,  u  I  have  finished  the  work  Thou  gavest  me 
to  do,"  though  the  death  of  the  Cross  was  waiting. 
The  victory  of  Calvary  was  won  in  Gethsemane. 

Criticism. 

How  good  it  would  be  if  we  could  learn  to  be 
rigorous  in  judgment  of  ourselves,  and  gentle  in 
our  judgment  of  our  neighbors  !  In  remedying 
defects,  kindness  works  best  with  others,  sternness 
with  ourselves.  It  is  easy  to  make  allowances  for 
our  faults,  but  dangerous ;  hard  to  make  allow- 
ances for  others'  faults,  but  wise.  "  If  thy  hand 
offend  thee,  cut  it  off,"  is  a  word  for  our  sins  ;  for 
the  sins  of  others,  "  Father,  forgive  them." 

Good  Intentions. 

Many  a  good  intention  dies  from  inattention. 
If,  through  carelessness  or  indolence,  or  selfish- 
ness, a  good  intention  is  not  put  into  effect,  we 
have  lost  an  opportunity,  demoralized  ourselves, 
and  stolen  from  the  pile  of  possible  good.  To  be 
born  and  not  fed,  is  to  perish.  To  launch  a  ship 
and  neglect  it  is  to  lose  it.  To  have  a  talent  and 
bury  it,  is  to  be  a  "  wicked  and  slothful  servant." 
For  in  the  end  we  shall  be  judged,  not  alone  by 
what  we  have  done,  but  by  what  we  could  have 
done. 

6 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Confessing  Our  Sins. 

Unless  we  realize  our  sins  enough  to  call  them 
by  name,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to  say  any- 
thing about  them  at  all.  When  we  pray  for 
forgiveness,  let  us  say,  "  my  temper,"  or  "  un- 
truthfulness," or  "  pride,"  "  my  selfishness,  my 
cowardice,  indolence,  jealousy,  revenge,  impurity." 
To  recognize  our  sins,  we  must  look  them  in  the 
face  and  call  them  by  their  right  names,  however 
hard.  Honesty  in  confession  calls  for  definiteness 
in  confession. 

No  Place  for  Anxiety. 

Anxiety  has  no  place  in  the  life  of  one  of  God's 
children.  Christ's  serenity  was  one  of  the  most 
unmistakable  signs  of  his  filial  trust.  He  was 
tired  and  hungry  and  thirsty  and  in  pain  ;  but 
we  cannot  imagine  him  anxious  or  fretful.  His 
mind  was  kept  in  perfect  peace  because  it  was 
stayed  on  God.  The  life  lived  by  the  faith  of 
the  Son  of  God  will  find  his  word  kept :  "  My 
peace  give  I  unto  you." 

Living  Stones. 

If  a  man  is  to  be  a  pillar  in  the  temple  of  his 
God  by  and  by,  he  must  be  some  kind  of  a  prop 
in  God's  house  to-day.     We  are  here  to  support, 

7 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

not  to  be  supported.  No  one  can  be  a  living 
stone  on  the  foundations  of  the  Spiritual  House, 
which  is  God's  habitation,  without  being  a  foun- 
dation to  the  stones  above  him. 

Largeness. 

Littleness  needs  largeness.  A  cut  on  the  finger 
needs  not  a  finger  full  of  new  blood  for  the  day, 
but  all  the  refreshing  and  recreating  of  the  red 
life  current.  Are  we  thoughtless  of  others  ?  We 
need  not  a  little  more  thoughtfulness,  but  the 
spirit  of  him  who  pleased  not  himself.  Are  we 
hypersensitive  to  praise  or  blame  ?  We  need  to 
dedicate  ourselves  once  and  again  to  the  greater 
glory  of  God.  Let  us  get  the  stars  in  their 
courses  to  fight  against  Sisera. 

Joy  in  the  Thorn. 

Paul's  thorn  was  not  pleasant  to  him.  He 
prayed  to  be  rid  of  it.  But  when  he  found  it  had 
come  to  stay,  he  made  friends  with  it  swiftly.  It 
was  no  longer  how  to  dismiss,  but  how  to  enter- 
tain. He  stopped  groaning,  and  began  glorying. 
It  was  clear  to  him  that  it  was  God's  will,  and 
that  meant  new  opportunity,  new  victory,  new 
likeness  to  Christ.  What  God  means  is  always  too 
good  to  be  lost,  and  is  worth  all  it  costs  to  learn. 
Let  us  learn  as  swiftly  as  we  may.  Time  is  short. 
8 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

The  Friendship  of  Christ. 
If  a  friend  is  the  one  who  summons  us  to  our 
best,  then  is  not  Jesus  Christ  our  best  friend, 
and  should  we  not  think  of  the  Communion  as 
one  of  his  chief  appeals  to  us  to  be  our  best  ? 
The  Lord's  Supper  looks  not  back  to  our  past 
with  a  critical  eye,  but  to  our  future,  with  a  hope- 
ful one.  The  Master  appeals  from  what  we  have 
been  to  what  we  may  be.  He  bids  us  come,  not 
because  he  sees  we  are  better  than  we  have  been, 
but  because  he  wants  us  to  be.  To  stay  away 
because  our  hearts  are  cold  is  to  refuse  to  go  to 
the  fire  till  we  are  warm. 

Christ  is  All. 
Is  not  the  trouble  with  most  of  our  witnessing 
for  God  that  it  is  inconstant  and  inconsistent, 
lacking  unity  as  well  as  continuity  ?  What  is 
our  hope  but  the  indwelling  Spirit  of  Christ,  to 
bring  every  thought  into  captivity  to  the  obedi- 
ence of  Christ,  to  inspire  every  word  and  deed  by 
his  love  ?  Then  will  "  broken  lights "  blend  in 
steady  shining,  the  fractional  be  summed  up  in 
the  integral,  and  life,  unified  and  beautified  by 
the  central  Christ,  radiate  God's  glory,  and  shine 
with  divine  effulgence. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Making  Things  Sunshiny. 
Have  you  ever  had  your  day  suddenly  turn 
sunshiny  because  of  a  cheerful  word  ?  Have  you 
ever  wondered  if  this  could  be  the  same  world, 
because  someone  had  been  unexpectedly  kind  to 
you  ?  You  can  make  to-day  the  same  for  some- 
body. It  is  only  a  question  of  a  little  imagina- 
tion, a  little  time  and  trouble.  Think  now, 
"  What  can  I  do  to-day  to  make  someone  hap- 
py ?  " — old  persons,  children,  servants — even  a 
bone  for  the  dog,  or  sugar  for  the  bird  !  Why 
not? 

Roots  and  Fruits. 
We  are  not  created  in  Christ  Jesus  out  of  good 
works,  but  unto  good  works.  We  do  not  make 
ourselves  Christians  any  more  than  we  make  our- 
selves human  beings.  Works  are  the  fruit  of  life, 
not  the  root.  The  works  of  the  flesh  are  unclean- 
ness,  hatred  and  their  bad  train  ;  the  fruit  of  the 
spirit  is  love,  joy  and  their  good  train.  Life 
works  from  root  to  fruit ;  logic  argues  from  fruit 
to  root.  We  grow  from  our  roots  ;  we  are  known 
by  our  fruits. 

No  Harm  in  Loving  the  World. 
We  cannot  know  or  enjoy  or  love  the  world  too 
much,  if  God's  will  controls  us.     Has  a  mother 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

anything  but  joy  in  watching  the  little  daughter's 
devotion  to  her  doll  ?  Not  until  the  child  is  so 
absorbed  that  she  cannot  hear  her  mother's  voice. 
Did  anyone  ever  love  the  world  more  than  Jesus 
did  ?  Yet  was  anyone  ever  so  loyal  to  the 
Father's  will  ?  Worldliness  is  not  love  of  the 
world,  but  slavishness  to  it. 

Saved  for  this  Life. 

Salvation  is  not  putting  a  man  into  Heaven, 
but  putting  Heaven  into  a  man.  It  is  not  putting 
a  sinful  man  into  a  law-abiding  community, 
but  writing  the  law  of  God  in  his  heart  and 
mind.  The  real  question  is  not,  What  will  we  do 
under  outward  compulsion  ?  but,  What  will  we  do 
by  inward  choice  ?  Salvation  is  not  the  change 
of  circumstances,  but  that  central  change  in  us, 
that  change  of  the  heart,  of  its  attitude,  its  inten- 
tions, of  its  choices,  which  will  make  it  the  con- 
queror under  all  circumstances  in  life's  battles. 

When  Life  is  of  Small  Account. 
To  do  right  is  the  only  real  obligation  that 
faces  us.  A  thief,  defending  himself  by  saying, 
"  But  a  man  must  live,"  was  met  with  the  answer, 
"  I  do  not  see  that."  There  is  no  necessity  to 
live,  but  there  is  a  supreme  necessity  to  do  right. 
ii 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Thousands  of  men  and  women  have  laid  down 
their  lives  rather  than  do  wrong.  Let  us  never 
allow  what  are  called  the  lower  necessities  of  life 
to  say  a  word  in  the  presence  of  the  imperial 
"  ought." 

Living  Water. 

If  you  have  ever  been  driven  to  drink  stale 
water  from  a  cistern,  you  have  a  good  idea  of 
what  Jesus  meant  when  he  spoke  of  "living 
water. "  When  the  Christian  life  is  real,  in  living 
oneness  with  "  Christ  who  is  the  fountain,''1  there 
is  a  joy  and  sparkle  about  it,  which  they  never 
know  who  are  drinking  the  water  of  old  experi- 
ences and  ancient  memories.  How  does  the 
Christian  life  taste  to  you  ?  Is  it  "  new  every 
morning  "  ? 

Possession. 

The  only  test  of  possession  is  use.  The  talent 
that  is  buried  is  not  owned.  The  napkin  and  the 
hole  in  the  ground  are  far  more  truly  the  man's 
property,  because  they  are  accomplishing  some- 
thing for  him,  slothful  and  shameful  though  it  be. 

And  what  is  a  lost  soul  ?  Is  it  not  one  that 
God  cannot  use,  or  one  that  cannot  use  God  ? 
Trustless,  prayerless,  fruitless,  loveless — is  it  not 
so  far  lost  ?  So  may  a  man  have  a  soul  that  is 
lost  and  be  dead  while  he  lives. 

12 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Possibilities. 

Astronomy  has  opened  the  eyes  of  the  devout 
to  the  possibilities  of  the  life  of  eternity.  When 
it  tells  us  of  the  worlds  upon  worlds  that  the 
heavens  contain,  we  catch  our  breath  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  greatness  of  the  future  life.  For 
perhaps  amid  these  other  worlds  of  his,  God  has 
for  us  larger  work  to  do  than  ever  we  have  im- 
agined. Faithfulness,  we  know,  leads  to  large 
opportunities  ;  if  we  do  well  here,  we  shall  do  in- 
conceivably better  in  the  limitless  life  of  eternity. 
It  is  to  be  remembered,  though,  that  God's  future 
plans  for  us  depend  largely  on  our  present  loyalty. 

Thrift  that  Brings  Beggary. 
Life's  real  loss  is  life  unlived.  The  strength  we 
pay  out  for  a  principle  enriches  us,  though  the 
cause  may  seem  a  failure.  The  strength  we  save 
through  cowardice  or  selfishness  impoverishes  us. 
The  love  that  is  given,  though  it  be  not  half  re- 
turned, builds  up  the  heart,  while  the  love  that  is 
withheld  shrivels  it.  Prudence  may  be  an  enemy 
of  power,  and  thrift  bring  beggary  behind  it. 
"  There  is  that  withholdeth  and  tendeth  to  pov- 
erty." 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Second  Sight. 
The  most  remarkable  instance  of  second  sight 
in  the  Bible  is  given  by  Moses's  choice  where  he 
"had  re-spect  unto  the  re-compense  of  the  re- 
ward." Three  times  we  are  told  he  took  a  look 
past  the  material  and  the  visible  over  the  shoulder 
of  things  to  the  real  values,  imperishable,  eternal, 
to  the  face  of  God.  Doubtless  there  were  many 
to  call  him  short-sighted ;  and  so  it  would  seem 
at  first  sight,  but  second  sight  showed  better 
powers  of  vision.  The  invisible  came  into  ken, 
and  a  reward  incorruptible,  undefiled,  and  that 
fadeth  not  away,  was  his. 

Excuses. 
An  excuse  for  sin  is  a  statement  of  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  a  man  did  wrong.  When 
we  say,  "  I  could  not  help  it ;  circumstances  were 
too  much  for  me,"  do  our  hearts  believe  it  to  be 
true  ?  We  say,  "  My  temperament,  my  inherited 
appetite,  business  exigencies,  irresistible  pressure,,, 
as  though  we  were  compelled  to  do  wrong.  The 
first  man  in  the  long  line  of  apologetic  succession 
said,  "  The  woman  tempted  me,"  but  did  not  say, 
"  and  made  me  eat."  Whatever  he  might  wish 
implied,  he  could  only  say,  "  And  I  did  eat."  No 
unconsenting  soul  can  be  made  to  sin,  and  so  sin 
is  inexcusable. 

«4 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Always  Doing  Better. 
Whenever  we  make  a  grateful  review,  let  it 
mean  instant  commitment  to  a  better  future.  If 
the  mercies  of  God  have  blessedly  beset  us,  let  us 
not  build  "Three  Tabernacles,'"  that  we  may 
abide  ;  but  rather,  like  Paul,  call  the  places  where 
our  mercies  meet  us  "  Three  Taverns,'"  then  push 
on,  thank  God,  and  take  courage.  Every  attain- 
ment is  to  be  a  footing  for  new  attempts,  and  every 
goal  a  point  of  departure.  "  A  man's  reach  should 
exceed  his  grasp,  or  what's  a  heaven  for  ?  " 

Working  with  God. 
u  My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work." 
And  I  work  !  Say  that  too.  If  you  destroy  the 
sequence,  life  loses  heart,  and  joy,  and  meaning, 
and  value.  Swing  into  line  with  the  eternal  en- 
ergy, be  a  force  among  forces,  a  toiler,  a  producer, 
a  factor,  and  life  never  loses  its  tone  and  flavor,  its 
bead  or  glamour.  There  is  no  real  taste  to  bread 
nor  bliss  in  sleep  for  the  idler.  He  is  the  doubter, 
the  skeptic,  the  unhappy  man.  His  idleness  pro- 
claims him  diseased  and  decaying. 

More  Right  than  We  Know. 

"When  a  man  is  wrong,  he  is  more  wrong 

than  he  knows."     Think   of  this  the  next  time 

you  are  on  a  through  train  that  does  not  go 

15 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

through,  because  it  was  late  somewhere.  Instead 
of  making  up  time,  it  continues  to  lose  it.  Local 
trains  have  now  its  right  of  way,  and  block  signals 
hold  it  remorselessly.  All  things  seem  to  con- 
spire against  it.  Let  the  virtue  of  being  on  time 
shine  in  a  new  light,  and  be  glad  that,  "  when  you 
are  right,  you  are  more  right  than  you  know." 

Life's  Story. 
How  good  it  is  that,  though  new  chapters  go 
on  with  our  life's  story,  and  people  drop  out  whom 
we  have  loved,  and  incidents  change  so  that  it 
seems  quite  like  another  tale,  yet  the  real  plot  is 
spiritual  and  eternal.  The  true  friendships  and 
affections  will  all  come  in  again,  in  the  next  vol- 
ume. There  is  no  "  finis  "  at  the  end  of  Volume 
One,  nor  yet  of  Volume  Two.  Always  to  be  con- 
tinued, never  to  be  concluded,  are  the  life  and 
love  that  are  rooted  in  Jesus  Christ. 


Living  in  a  Castle  of  Love. 

"  Keep  yourselves  in  the  love  of  God  "  does  not 
mean  keep  yourselves  loving  God,  but  keep  be- 
lieving and  rejoicing  that  God  loves  you.  "  Con- 
viction "is  a  good  word  there,  because  it  comes 
from  con  and  victum — cewquered,  or  vinculum — 
a  chain.  Be  conquered,  be  enchained,  by  the 
It 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

thought  that  God  loves  you.  "Keep1'  means 
guard,  protect,  as  in  a  fortress.  Live  in  this  cas- 
tle, and  no  enemy  of  doubt  or  fear  can  by  any 
means  hurt  you.  "  Keep  yourselves  in  the  love 
of  God." 

Glory  of  the  Commonplace. 

Why  do  we  trifle  with  goodness  and  virtue  till 
we  wake  to  their  value  through  the  bitterness  of 
their  loss  ?  There  may  be  nothing  strikingly 
dramatic  about  the  rewards  or  consequences  of 
daily,  steadfast  obedience  to  God,  but  they  shine 
in  "  something  of  an  angel  light,"  where  men  look 
back  to  them  from  the  shame  and  misery  of  the 
tragedy  of  disobedience.  The  value  of  doing  right 
is  constant,  whether  men  appreciate  it  at  the  time 
or  not.  Locking  a  barn  seems  no  longer  com- 
monplace when  the  horse  is  stolen,  and  the  value 
of  taking  care  of  furnaces  comes  out  tremendously 
in  the  light  of  a  burning  house. 

Something  Better  than  Explanation. 

No  explanation  is  of  any  value  in  matters 
which  do  not  grow  out  of  experience.  Until  a 
deaf  man  hears  music,  it  is  wasted  breath  to  de- 
scribe it,  and  there  is  no  proof  of  color  to  the 
blind.  When  Jesus  spoke  to  the  disciples  the 
words  recorded  in  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John, 
17 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

he  offered  them  truth  for  experience  without  ex- 
planation. He  promised  them  manifestation  of 
himself.  He  knew  that  the  one  who  should  enter 
into  this  experience  would  never  be  perplexed  by 
divine  reticence  in  explanation,  or  by  the  imper- 
fection of  human  philosophy. 

Feeble  Faith  is  Better  than  None. 
If  God  made  no  response  except  to  perfect  faith, 
who  could  hope  for  help  ?  But  God  has  regard 
for  beginnings,  and  his  eye  perceives  greatness  in 
the  germ.  The  hand  of  the  woman  in  the  crowd 
trembled  as  it  was  stretched  toward  Jesus,  and  the 
faith  back  of  it  was  superstitiously  reverent,  trust- 
ing in  the  virtue  of  the  robe,  rather  than  in  the 
One  who  wore  it ;  yet  the  genuineness  of  that 
faith,  feeble  though  it  was,  triumphed  in  God's 
loving  sight.  Real  trust  is  real  power,  though 
the  heart  and  hand  both  tremble. 


Christ  in  All. 

"  And  whatsoever  ye  do  in  word  or  deed — all 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  "  Do  "  does  not 
belong  there.  There  is  more  than  doing  in  life. 
Thinking,  speaking,  hoping,  planning,  dreaming 
— all  are  to  be  in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 
His  love  and  life  are  to  color  and  shape  our  am- 
18 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

bitions  and  accomplishments.  In  Him,  as  a  plant 
in  soil,  in  rain  and  sunshine,  we  are  to  live,  grow- 
ing up  by  him  and  into  him.  In  his  name  we  are 
to  work,  to  pray,  to  suffer,  to  rejoice,  and  at  last 
to  go  home.  It  is  only  another  way  of  saying, 
"  For  me  to  live  is  Christ." 

Obedience. 
Men  say,  that  when  they  know  they  will  do ; 
Jesus  says,  that  when  they  do  they  will  know. 
He  does  not  promise  to  manifest  himself  to  the 
man  who  dreams  or  debates,  but  to  him  who 
keeps  his  commandments.  The  seeds  of  truth 
sprout  in  the  soil  of  obedience.  The  words  of 
Jesus  in  the  mind  of  a  disobedient  man  are  no 
more  vital  than  wheat  in  the  wrappings  of  a 
mummy.  To  know  the  divinity  of  Jesus's  teach- 
ings, we  must  do  his  will  with  definite  intention. 
Moral  disobedience  is  mental  darkness,  but  to  sub- 
mit our  wills  in  loyalty  to  his  law  is  to  open  our 
minds  to  the  light  of  his  truth. 

Just  Filling  Our  Own  Place. 

We  often  think  that  if  we  had  that  man's  means 

or  that  man's  ability  or  that  man's  opportunity, 

we  could  do  something  worth  doing ;  but,  as  we 

are,  there  is   no  possibility  of  any  great  thing. 

19 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Yet  God  does  not  want  us  to  fill  any  other  man's 
place,  or  to  do  any  other  man's  work.  God  wants 
us  to  improve  our  own  opportunity  with  the  pos- 
sessions and  the  powers  that  He  has  given  us.  It 
is  a  very  great  thing  for  us  to  do  the  very  best 
we  can  do  just  where  and  as  we  are.  God  asks  no 
one  of  us  to  do  more  than  this,  nor  has  any  one 
of  us  a  right  to  do  less. 

"The  Uses  of  Adversity." 
Present  suffering  is  not  enjoyable,  but  life  would 
be  worth  little  without  it.  The  difference  be- 
tween iron  and  steel  is  fire,  but  steel  is  worth  all 
it  costs.  Iron  ore  may  think  itself  senselessly 
tortured  in  the  furnace,  but  when  the  watch- 
spring  looks  back,  it  knows  better.  David  en- 
joyed pain  and  trouble  no  more  than  we  do,  but 
the  time  came  when  he  admitted  that  they  had 
been  good  for  him.  Though  the  aspect  of  suffer- 
ing is  hard,  the  prospect  is  hopeful,  and  the  retro- 
spect will  start  a  song,  if  we  are  "  the  called  ac- 
cording to  his  purpose,'"  in  suffering. 

Being  One's  Self. 
To  be  our  best  selves  should  be  our  ambition — 
not  to  be  somebody  else.     A  carver  needs  tools  of 
different  sizes  and  temper  and  shapes  of  cutting 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

edge.  The  perfection  of  his  work  depends  on 
their  not  being  all  alike.  So  God  may  use  us  to 
help  conform  humanity  to  the  image  of  his  son. 
We  owe  it  to  that  work  to  respect  our  individu- 
ality, and  to  keep  ourselves  at  the  highest  point 
of  efficiency.  To  be  used  in  the  perfecting  of  one 
line  in  that  work  is  reward  enough  for  any  tool's 
being  itself,  and  being  worn  out  in  the  work. 


The  Rod  and  the  Child. 

Reproof  or  punishment  should  never  be  given 
for  the  relief  of  the  feelings  of  authority,  but, 
always  and  evidently,  for  the  good  of  the  diso- 
bedient. To  punish  a  child  in  anger  cuts  both 
ways,  and,  unlike  the  twice  blest  droppings  of 
mercy,  is  doubly  bad,  cursing  him  that  gives,  and 
him  that  takes.  Punishment  should  be  meted  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  offence,  and  not  ac- 
cording to  the  degrees  of  annoyance.  Justice  is 
not  mercurial  and  explosive,  or  self-absorbed.  Its 
business  is  not  to  relieve  its  own  tension.  It 
should  be  serene  and  certain  and  quiet-eyed. 
Think  twice,  and  pray  three  times  before  punish- 
ing a  child. 


21 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Honesty  in  Prayer. 

Prayer  must  mean  something  to  us,  if  it  is  to 
mean  anything  to  God.  If  the  accustomed  time 
of  prayer  comes  around,  and  we  have  nothing 
that  interests  us  enough  to  pray  about  definitely 
and  honestly,  we  would  better  frankly  say  so  to 
God  than  kill  time  in  hollow,  heartless  formality. 
To  keep  up  the  habit  of  prayer  by  saying  thought- 
less words  is  not  worth  while.  It  is  a  bad  habit 
of  prayer,  or  it  is  a  habit  of  bad  prayer.  It  is 
better  not  to  pray  than  to  pray  and  not  be  hon- 
est. This  prayer,  however,  at  least  might  be  al- 
ways possible :  "  O  God !  show  me  my  need  of 
Thee." 

The  Mission  of  Distance,, 

Life's  features  are  so  close  to  us  that  they  often 
seem  out  of  proportion.  But  the  day  and  dis- 
tance will  come,  when  we  shall  see  how  well  bal- 
anced were  all  God's  thoughts  of  us.  The  eye 
too  close  to  a  picture  has  no  right  to  telegraph 
criticism  about  the  painter's  purpose  or  skill. 
Stand  where  the  painter  intended.  Some  views 
of  life  are  never  understood  except  in  a  review, 
some  prospects  or  aspects  never  appreciated  ex- 
cept in  retrospect.  Reserve  your  judgment.  Time 
will  vindicate  God,  and  if  it  does  not  set  you  sing- 
ing, eternity  will. 

22 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Saying  "Good-By." 

Why  should  we  hesitate  to  say  "  good-by  "  to 
each  other  ?  Are  we  not  Pagans,  to  think  that 
a  word  has  power  over  God's  quiet  purposes,  and 
that  saying  "  good-by  "  smells  of  death  ?  Must 
men  die  intestate  because  they  think  that  mak- 
ing their  wills  is  cutting  out  their  shrouds  ?  If 
we  were  old  Romans,  who  thought  "  vale  ! "  meant 
"  forever,''  we  might  be  shy  of  such  a  word,  but 
"  good-by,"  even  if  it  should  be  for  the  last  time 
on  earth,  is  only  the  difference  between  "good- 
night "  and  "  good-morning."  Say  it,  then,  like 
a  Christian,  and,  if  it  still  comes  hesitatingly, 
stretch  it  out  into  the  loveliest  of  wishes,  "  God 
be  with  you." 

Pain  as  a  Friend. 

Pain  is  a  friend  rather  than  a  foe.  It  stands 
between  extremes  of  life  and  death,  calling  us 
ever  toward  life.  It  ceases  when  its  warning  has 
stirred  the  soul  to  thought  and  remedy,  and 
brought  back  health,  or  it  ceases  when  the  battle 
is  lost.  Like  a  fire-bell,  it  stops  when  the  fire  is 
put  out  or  burned  out.  Let  us  not  resent  it.  It 
has  a  kind  heart,  though  its  hands  hurt.  An  en- 
gineer does  not  like  to  see  a  red  flag,  and  yet  he 
is  only  too  glad  to  see  it.  That  we  may  know 
23 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

the  truth,  and  so  be  made  free  from  ignorance 
and  peril,  is  part  of  the  mission  of  pain. 

Heroism  Every  Day. 

We  should  all  be  heroic  if  our  trials  were  on  a 
grand  scale  !  Should  we  ?  Heroism  in  the  least 
is  the  only  pledge  of  heroism  in  the  greatest. 
Unless  we  take  the  smallest  trials  as  real  trials  of 
us,  and  trifling  tests  as  real  tests  of  us,  we  give 
promise  of  going  down  under  great  ones.  Dig- 
nify little  troubles  by  the  thought  of  the  divine 
purpose  in  them,  and  great  troubles  will  have 
dignified  treatment.  Let  each  small  annoyance 
or  disappointment  be  one  degree  of  heat  in  the 
furnace,  for  the  steeFs  sake,  one  gritty  grain  in 
the  grindstone,  for  the  knifed  sake,  and  the  mak- 
ing of  heroism  is  here. 

Wants  and  Needs. 
Wants  and  needs  are  different  things.  We 
often  want  what  we  do  not  need,  and  need  what 
we  do  not  want.  We  distinguish  between  young 
wants  and  needs,  and  "  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  to  our  children."  Is  not  the  infinite  mind 
wise  enough,  and  the  infinite  love  strong  enough, 
to  subordinate  our  wants  to  our  needs  and  disap- 
point us  in  the  short  run,  if  need  be,  to  develop 
24 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

and  delight  us  in  the  long  one  ?  Real  needs  over- 
ride incidental  wants ;  we  cannot  always  have 
what  we  please,  if  we  are  to  have  what  God 
pleases — and  what  is  best  for  us.  To  want  what 
God  wishes,  is  a  swift  way  to  have  his  wishes 
come  true,  and  to  have  our  real  needs  amply  sup- 
plied. 

"Things  that  are  Behind." 

Progress  is  marked  by  stations  left  behind.  If 
we  follow  Jesus,  we  go  somewhere,  which  means 
leaving  some  place.  Journeying  with  the  breast 
to  the  East,  means  with  the  back  to  the  West. 
The  disciples  left  their  boats  and  nets  when  they 
followed  Jesus.  What  has  our  following  cost  us  ? 
What  selfish  plans,  worldly  projects,  doubtful 
amusements,  dangerous  companionships,  are  be- 
hind us  for  the  King's  and  the  kingdom's  sake  ? 
We  sing,  "  Jesus,  I  my  cross  have  taken,  all  to 
leave  and  follow  Thee,""  but  another  hymn  brings 
the  thought  to  a  sharp  point,  "  Have  I  left  aught 
for  Thee." 

Suffer  Little  Children. 

Dare  we  let  children  grow  up  with  no  vital 

contact  with  the  Saviour,  never  intentionally  and 

consciously  put   into   his  arms  ?     Not   to  bring 

them  to  him,  not  to  teach  them  to  walk  toward 

25 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

him,  as  soon  as  they  can  walk  toward  anyone,  is 
wronging  a  child  beyond  words.  The  terrible  in- 
dictment uttered  by  the  Lord,  "  Them  that  were 
entering  in  ye  hindered,"  and  the  millstone  warn- 
ing for  offending  little  ones,  are  close  akin  to  the 
deserts  of  those  who  ruin  a  man's  whole  day  of 
life  by  wronging  his  morning  hours.  Not  to  help 
a  child  to  know  the  saving  power  of  Christ  is  to 
hold  back  a  man  from  salvation. 


Uncommon  Service 

It  is  true,  and  it  is  a  great  comfort  that  it  is 
true,  that  the  giving  of  a  glass  of  water  can  please 
God,  and  the  sweeping  of  a  room  can  glorify  Him. 
But  woe  be  to  us  if  we  are  content  with  small 
service.  Too  much  thought  of  little  things  be- 
littles. We  should  "attempt  great  things  for 
God."  Caleb  said,  "  Give  me  this  mountain  "  ; 
Mary  broke  the  alabaster  box  that  was  exceeding 
precious ;  the  disciples  left  all  to  follow  Jesus, 
and  counted  it  joy  to  suffer  for  his  sake.  Let  us 
not  be  easily  content.  The  note  of  heroism  should 
be  in  our  battles  with  sin,  in  our  speaking,  in  our 
giving,  in  our  serving.  Our  King  deserves  and 
expects  kingliness. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Forgiveness, 

How  sure  we  are  of  our  own  forgiveness  from 
God.  How  certain  we  are  that  we  are  made  in 
his  image,  when  we  forgive  heartily  and  out  of 
hand  one  who  has  wronged  us.  Sentimentally  we 
may  feel,  and  lightly  we  may  say,  "To  err  is 
human,  to  forgive  divine  "  ;  but  we  never  taste  the 
nobility  and  divinity  of  forgiving  till  we  forgive 
and  know  the  victory  of  forgiveness  over  our  sense 
of  being  wronged,  over  mortified  pride  and  wound- 
ed sensibilities.  Here  we  are  in  living  touch 
with  Him  who  treats  us  as  though  nothing  had 
happened — who  turns  his  back  upon  the  past, 
and  bids  us  journey  with  Him  into  goodness  and 
gladness,  into  newness  of  life. 

Making  the  Best  of  Things. 
There  is  a  making  the  best  of  things  that  is 
noble.  It  is  high  philosophy,  it  is  holy  resigna- 
tion and  contentment,  it  is  bravely  greeting  the 
inevitable.  Paul  knew  its  secret,  "  I  have  learned 
in  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therein  to  be  content." 
But  there  is  a  making  the  best  of  things  that  is 
false  and  shameful.  It  is  labelling  that  as  best 
which  we  deeply  know  is  not  the  best.  It  is  cow- 
ardly contentment.  It  is  "letting  things  go," 
in  weak  complaisance,  or  shallow  optimism,  when 
27 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

they  could  be  bettered,  if  we  cared  to  better  them. 
We  have  no  right  to  make  the  best  of  anything 
that  can  in  any  way  be  made  better. 

Looking  Down. 

«  Risen  with  Him."  Seated  with  Him  !  Then 
our  outlook  in  life  is  not  an  upward,  but  a  down- 
ward one.  Here  is  the  demand  for  Christian 
imagination.  How  does  life  look  from  Heaven  ? 
Think  of  our  discontent  in  lowly  places,  our  fever- 
ish longing  for  great  work,  our  love  of  tinsel,  our 
chafing  under  discipline,  our  hard  judgments,  our 
cherished  grievances.  How  would  they  appear  to 
us,  seen  from  above  ?  How  do  they  look  to 
Jesus  ?  Put  yourself  in  your  true  place,  and 
judge  accordingly.  Our  citizenship  is  in  Heaven  ; 
let  our  conversation  be  heavenly. 

Suggestion  Rather  than  Definition. 

Suggestion  is  generally  better  than  Definition. 
There  is  a  seeming  dogmatism  about  Definition 
that  is  often  repellent,  while  Suggestion,  on  the 
contrary,  disarms  suspicion  and  summons  to  co- 
operation and  experiment.  Definition  provokes 
discussion.  Suggestion  provokes  to  love  and 
good  works.  Defining  is  limiting,  Suggestion  is 
enlarging.  Defining  calls  a  halt;  Suggestion 
28 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

calls  for  an  advance.  Defining  involves  the  peril 
of  contentment :  "  I  am  here,  I  rest."  "  Thus 
far,"  says  Definition,  and  draws  a  map.  "  West- 
ward," cries  Suggestion,  and  builds  a  boat. 

Prejudgment. 

Prejudge  not  lest  ye  be  prejudiced.  John  the 
Baptist  had  his  idea  of  what  Jesus  ought  to  be, 
and  when  Jesus  did  not  conform  to  it,  a  doubt  of 
his  Messiahship  was  born.  The  Nazarite  was 
perplexed  by  the  Man  of  Nazareth.  The  ascetic 
could  hardly  believe  that  the  friend  of  sinners  and 
little  children  could  be  the  promised  one  of  God. 
The  locust  eater  and  camel-skin  wearer  had  his 
doubt  about  the  man  who  ate  and  looked  like 
other  people.  "Judge  nothing  until  the  time 
comes,"  which  means  suspend  judgment  until  you 
get  at  the  kernel  of  the  nut,  whatever  its  burr ; 
at  the  heart  of  man,  whatever  his  exterior. 

Success  or  Failure. 

One  of  the  commonest  mistakes  and  one  of  the 
costliest  is  thinking  that  success  is  due  to  some 
genius,  some  magic, — something  or  other  which 
we  do  not  possess.  Success  is  generally  due  to 
holding  on,  and  failure  to  letting  go.  You  decide 
to  learn  a  language,  study  music,  take  a  course 
29 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DA*    LIVING 

of  reading,  train  yourself  physically.  Will  it  be 
success  or  failure  ?  It  depends  upon  how  much 
pluck  and  perseverance  that  word  "  decide  "  con- 
tains. The  decision  that  nothing  can  overrule, 
the  grip  that  nothing  can  detach,  will  bring  suc- 
cess. Remember  the  Chinese  proverb,  "  With 
time  and  patience,  the  mulberry  leaf  becomes 
satin." 

False  Values. 

When  Abraham  offered  to  Lot  a  choice  of 
pastures,  it  seemed  to  Lot  that  fortuned  favors 
had  certainly  come  to  him.  So  did  it  seem  to 
the  Israelites  when  God  gave  them  quails,  and  to 
a  later  generation,  when  he  let  them  have  a  king. 
So  did  it  to  Jonah,  doubtless,  when  he  found 
the  ship  going  his  way  for  Tarshish.  But  they 
were  all  mistaken.  The  watered  plains  may  have 
looked  pleasant  to  Lot,  but  they  were  the  way  to 
Sodom.  The  quails,  and  the  king,  and  the  ship 
for  Tarshish  would  better  have  been  let  alone. 
The  real  point  is,  not  whether  things  are  going 
our  way,  but  whether  they  are  going  God's  way. 

Letting  Things  Make  the  Best  of  Us. 

To  make  the  best  of  things  in  the  right  way 
is  to  let  things  make  the  best  of  us.  My  next 
duty  may  be  one  I  do  not  enjoy ;  but  for  con- 

30 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

science"*  sake  to  do  it,  as  though  I  enjoyed  it,  is  to 
be  made  a  better  man.  Something  that  is  a  great 
delight  to  me  knocks  at  my  door.  To  make  the 
best  of  it  is  not  only  to  enjoy  it  heartily,  but 
"  heartily  as  unto  the  Lord "  who  let  me  have  it. 
Then  by  my  joys  I  am  made  a  better  man.  So 
with  sorrows  and  disappointments — they  are  not 
meant  to  disfigure,  but  to  transfigure  me.  Live 
with  God,  and  all  things  shall  be  his  servants, 
and  work  together  for  our  good  and  make  the 
best  of  us. 


Using  Our  Tools  While  We  May. 
A  Christian  should  hold  his  tools  in  general 
with  a  loose  hand,  but  in  particular  with  a  firm 
hand.  No  man  knows  when  he  may  be  deprived  of 
his  health,  his  money,  his  position,  his  friends  ;  he 
must  not  set  his  heart  on  any  one  of  them  as  a 
final  good,  as  an  essential  blessing.  But  upon  the 
tools  he  has,  he  must  set  his  heart  with  great  ap- 
preciation and  concentration,  that  he  may  learn 
how  to  use  each  one  so  as  to  get  the  best  results 
inside  and  out.  Love  not  tools  less  but  craftsman- 
ship more.  Work  while  you  have  your  tools  ;  the 
hour  cometh  when  you  may  not  have  them. 


3i 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Folly  of  Being  Powerless. 

If  an  electric  car  stands  motionless  on  the 
tracks,  it  is  nothing  against  the  power  of  elec- 
tricity. If  an  invalid  has  no  appetite,  and  cannot 
go  out  of  doors  at  night,  it  is  no  argument  against 
things  to  eat  and  the  joy  of  starlit  air.  If  a  man 
does  not  know  a  flower  by  name,  or  a  poem  by 
heart,  it  is  no  indictment  of  the  beauty  of  a  rose, 
or  the  charm  of  poetry.  If  we  bear  the  name  of 
Christ  but  give  no  other  sign  of  him,  if  we  go 
through  the  forms  of  godliness,  but  live  powerless 
lives,  it  is  a  thousand  reproaches  to  us.  To  be 
powerless  when  Christ  has  all  power,  and  we  can 
have  all  we  want,  is  an  arraignment  to  which  we 
can  make  no  answer  that  is  not  self-incriminating. 

What  is  Honesty? 

The  root  of  honesty  is  an  honest  intention,  the 
distinct  and  deliberate  purpose  to  be  true,  to  han- 
dle facts  as  they  are,  and  not  as  we  wish  them  to 
be.  Facts  lend  themselves  to  manipulation.  Many 
a  butcher's  hand  is  worth  more  than  its  weight  in 
gold.  What  we  want  things  to  be,  we  come  to 
see  them  to  be ;  and  the  tailor  pulls  the  coat  and 
the  truth  into  a  perfect  fit  from  his  point  of 
view. 

Oh,  to  get  life  out  of  our  sinful  and  selfish 
32 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

desires,  and  "  walk  in  the  light  as  he  is  in  the 
light,"  not  wishing  merely,  but  "willing  to  live 
honestly ! " 

God's  Machinery. 
This  world  is  a  machine  shop  to  make  me* 
chanics  of  us.  The  machinery  is  not  meant  to 
hurt  us.  There  is  nothing  accidental  about  it, 
though  accidents  occur  while  we  are  learning  to 
manage  it.  If  we  lose  our  balance,  and  get  a 
hand  caught  in  the  machinery,  is  it  the  fault  of 
our  Father  in  heaven  ?  No.  When  we  fall,  it  is 
against  God's  machinery,  but  it  is  also  against 
God's  will.  Yet  it  is  God's  will  that  by  that  fall, 
and  from  that  machinery,  we  should  learn  not  to 
fall,  learn  how  to  use  the  machinery ;  that  we 
should  be  expert  through  experience,  workmen 
that  need  not  be  ashamed  though  they  carry  scars. 

When  Sympathy  is  Needed. 
Sympathy  is  often  better  than  comfort.  Tears 
call  for  tears.  "Jesus  wept"  by  the  grave  of 
Lazarus,  though  in  a  moment  he  was  to  turn 
weeping  into  singing.  Let  us  not  tell  a  bumped 
child  to  be  more  careful,  and  say,  "  You  will 
know  better  another  time,"  but  give  the  child  our 
kisses  and  sympathy,  and  postpone  the  calculation 
33 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

about  moral  values.  Let  suffering  know  the 
answering  pain  of  our  heart.  The  best  sympathy 
is  often  voiceless, — the  pressure  of  a  hand,  the 
tear-brimming  look  that  says,  "  I  cannot  speak, 
but  I  have  heard."  Tears  before  truth  for  sorrow, 
otherwise  truth  may  be  wasted  on  unprofitable 
soil. 

Good  Listening. 

u  Take  heed  how  ye  hear "  is  a  genuine  moni- 
tion touching  happy  relations — a  real  injunction 
under  the  law  of  love.  Let  us  not  think  it  applies 
only  to  the  way  we  hear  sermons.  How  do  you 
listen  to  the  conversation  of  your  friends  ?  With 
half-parted  lips  ready  to  break  in  with  your  own 
opinions  ?  With  the  wandering  eye  of  one  evi- 
dently uninterested  ?  Is  this  the  love  that  helps 
another  to  be  his  best  ?  Do  you  like  to  be  well 
listened  to  ?  Mind,  then,  the  give  and  take  of 
love,  and  be  a  good  listener,  and  for  truth's  sake 
as  well  as  love's.  Thoreau  says,  "  It  takes  two  to 
speak  the  truth — one  to  speak  and  another  to 
hear." 

Is  Death  an  Interruption? 

Death  can  never  interrupt  a  faithful  Christian 

life.     When  we  feel  the  touch  upon  our  shoulder 

and  hear  the  word  whispered  in  our  ear,  we  may 

34 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

be  at  our  work  or  on  a  journey,  walking  the  street 
or  asleep  in  our  beds,  praying  at  church  or  fishing 
in  the  country.  What  difference  does  it  make  ? 
We  are  trying  to  please  our  God  in  what  is  our 
business  just  then.  Sacred  places  and  times  have 
no  superior  advantage  for  the  dying.  Sacredness 
is  in  the  motive  of  the  heart  that  would  do  every- 
thing as  unto  the  Lord,  dying  along  with  the  rest. 
As  Heaven  is  still  the  glad  doing  of  God's  will, 
where  is  there  any  interruption  ? 

Showing  Spirituality, 
Spirituality  is  best  manifested  on  the  ground, 
not  in  the  air.  Rapturous  day-dreams,  flights  of 
heavenly  fancy,  longings  to  see  the  Invisible,  are 
less  expensive  and  less  expressive  than  the  plain 
doing  of  duty.  To  have  bread  excite  thankful- 
ness and  a  drink  of  water  send  the  heart  to  God 
is  better  than  sighs  for  the  unattainable.  To 
plow  a  straight  furrow  on  Monday  or  dust  a  room 
well  on  Tuesday  or  kiss  a  bumped  forehead  on 
Wednesday  is  worth  more  than  the  most  ecstatic 
thrill  under  Sunday  eloquence.  Spirituality  is 
seeing  God  in  common  things,  and  showing  God 
in  common  tasks. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

What  is  Good  Hearing? 

We  hear  most  surely  what  we  want  to  hear. 
Out  of  the  interests  of  the  heart  the  ears  hear. 
"  Take  heed  how  ye  hear "  is  a  by-law  under  our 
moral  constitution.  What  concerns  us  catches 
our  attention.  If  kindergarten  or  photography, 
if  recipes  or  servants  or  babies,  are  supreme  in 
our  thoughts,  we  hear  about  them  on  all  sides. 
What  kind  of  things  make  our  ears  prick  up  most 
quickly  ?  The  old  poet,  Rogers,  said,  "  I  have  a 
very  weak  voice,  and  if  I  did  not  say  ill-natured 
things,  no  one  would  hear  what  I  said."  He 
knew  too  well  what  interested  most  people. 
Could  he  have  counted  on  us  ? 

Why  Does  Your  Tree  Stand? 

Ought  not  we  who  bear  the  name  of  Jesus,  to 
ask  ourselves  whether  we  are  keeping  pace  in  new 
purposes  and  answering  with  devotion  God's  sum- 
moning gifts  and  challenging  mercies  ?  When 
the  year  is  old  or  the  year  is  young,  and  we  think 
of  the  passing  of  life,  it  is  a  good  thing  to  ask 
whether  our  trees  justify  the  room  they  take  and 
the  nourishment  they  get  in  the  Master's  vine- 
yard. Is  your  tree  standing  because  "  it  brings 
forth  more  fruit "  ?  or  is  it  because  of  the  mercy, 
the  hope,  the  patience,  of  the  Lord  who  inter* 
36 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

cedes, — "  Spare  it  yet  another  year  ;  it  may  be  it 
will  bear  fruit "  ?  Let  the  goodness  of  God  lead 
us  to  repentance  and  a  better  return  in  fruitful- 
ness  and  fidelity  for  his  loving  care. 


A  Practical  Way  to  Lay  Down  Your  Life. 

What  does  laying  down  of  life  mean  to  us  ? 
Are  we  willing  to  lay  down  our  prejudices  for  the 
good  of  some  brother,  or  some  self-indulgence, 
that  we  may  have  some  time  and  money  to  help 
a  struggler  out  of  the  mire,  to  put  hope  and 
brightness  into  a  darkened  life  ?  How  about  the 
doubtful  things — things  we  can  do  without  peril, 
but  which  the  weaker  brother,  emboldened  by  our 
example,  attempts  to  his  utter  demoralization  and 
destruction  ?  Let  us  specialize  under  the  great 
appeal  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  brethren, 
and  lay  down  some  things  much  smaller,  for  the 
hope  of  being  worth  something.  How  else  are 
we  to  escape  the  condemnation  of  those  who  enjoy 
pronouncing  the  Lord's  name,  but  not  doing  his 
will  ? 

Better  than  Worshipping  the  Bible. 

The  Bible  is  not  a  thing  to  be  worshipped.     A 
savage  might  bow  down  to  a  telescope,  but  an 
astronomer  knows  better.     The  way  to  know  it 
37 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

is  to  use  it.  It  is  not  to  be  looked  at,  but  to 
look  through.  To  bind  a  Bible  beautifully,  to 
lift  it  reverently,  to  speak  of  it  with  admiration, 
to  guard  it  with  all  care,  is  not  at  all  to  the  point. 
Look  through  it.  Find  God  with  it.  See  what 
God  was  to  the  men  of  the  Bible,  and  then  let 
Him  be  the  same  to  you.  See  the  proofs  of  His 
power,  and  prove  that  power  for  yourself  in  your- 
self. Search  the  Scriptures  for  the  testimony  of 
Jesus,  and  honor  them  by  being  an  honor  to  the 
one  they  reveal. 


Doing  and  Knowing. 

Doing  and  knowing  are  blood  relations. 
"  Obedience  is  the  organ  of  spiritual  vision  " — so 
Robertson  re-issued  the  truth,  that,  if  we  would 
know  God's  doctrine,  we  must  do  his  will.  Ex- 
periment and  experience  spring  from  the  same 
root,  and  will  not  grow  apart.  Do  you  wish  you 
had  a  Christian's  experience  ?  Will  to  make  the 
Christian  experiment.  Will  you  know  who  Christ 
is,  and  what  he  can  do  for  you  ?  Obey  him  ;  do 
as  he  directs.  Do  not  expect  experience  without 
experiment.  "  Follow  me  "  was  Christ's  way  of 
saying  "Taste  and  see  that  the  Lord  is  good. 
Blessed  is  the  man  that  trusteth  in  him." 


38 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Goodness  and  Usefulness. 
Goodness  conditions  usefulness.  A  grimy  hand 
may  do  a  gracious  deed,  but  a  bad  heart  cannot. 
What  a  man  says  and  what  a  man  is  must  stand 
together, — must  con-sist.  His  life  can  ruin  his 
lips  or  fill  them  with  power.  It  is  what  men  see 
that  gives  value  to  what  we  say.  Paul  had  the 
right  order,  "Take  heed  unto  thyself,  and  unto 
the  doctrine."  Being  comes  before  saying  or 
doing.  Well  may  we  pray,  "  Search  me,  O  God  ! 
Reveal  me  to  myself.  Cleanse  me  from  secret 
faults,  that  those  who  are  acquainted  with  me, 
who  know  my  down-sittings  and  my  uprisings, 
may  not  see  in  me  the  evil  way  that  gives  the  lie 
to  my  words." 

Merit  of  Concealing  Troubles. 
To  play  a  part  can  be  good  or  bad.  It  is 
wrong  for  wickedness  to  try  to  pass  itself  off  for 
goodness,  but  it  is  not  wrong  for  a  sad  heart  to 
try  to  hide  itself  behind  a  smiling  face.  The 
disappointed  man  is  not  bound  to  fly  storm  sig- 
nals. There  is  no  law  that  requires  pain  to  be 
advertised.  When  locomotives  can  burn  their 
own  smoke,  travelling  will  be  pleasanter.  There 
is  no  danger  to  the  community  from  people  carry- 
ing concealed  troubles.  "  A  merry  heart  maketh 
39 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

a  cheerful  countenance."  That  is  pleasant,  but 
the  credit  comes  in  when  a  sad  heart  wears  a 
glad  countenance,  for  the  sake  of  a  world  that 
needs  more  sunshine.  "  But  thou,  when  thou 
fastest,  anoint  thine  head,  and  wash  thy  face; 
that  thou  appear  not  unto  men  to  fast." 

Friend  Necessity. 

What  a  friend  Necessity  is !  It  stops  our 
standing  on  one  foot,  it  ends  our  looking  at  our 
watches,  and  wondering  about  three  or  four 
things ;  it  moves  the  previous  question  ;  it  says, 
"  This  one  thing  you  do  !  "  It  is  good  discipline 
to  conquer  indecision,  but  it  is  better  for  us  and 
for  the  world,  knowing  "  what  must  be,"  to  be 
about  it.  It  saves  time.  Goethe  spoke  of  the 
"  dear  must."  Emerson  calls  a  man's  task  his 
life-preserver.  Let  us  recognize  the  purpose  of 
God  in  the  inevitable,  and  accept  it  gracefully, 
whether  discipline  or  duty.  Swift  adjustment 
means  peace  and  power.  Necessity  will  then  be 
but  the  iron  band  inside  the  golden  crown. 

Up  or  Down  Stream. 
Life  and  character  tend  either  upward  or  down- 
ward, but  a  single  act  or  characteristic  may  not 
indicate  the  tendency  of  a  life  as  a  whole.     You 
40 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

can  make  a  saint  out  of  the  good  qualities  of  bad 
men  ;  you  can  make  a  devil  out  of  the  bad  qual- 
ities of  good  men.  Esau  eclipsed  Jacob  at  first, 
but  his  virtues  were  accidents,  incidents,  without 
roots,  and  they  withered  before  the  hot  tests  of 
life.  Jacob  outshone  Esau  at  last.  Day  by  day 
he  fought  his  natural  badness,  and  won  in  the 
hard  struggle  with  himself.  The  mean  supplant- 
er  Jacob  became  the  hero  Israel,  a  prince  with 
God.  Is  it  thy  will  or  my  will  be  done  ?  Are  we 
living  to  please  Christ  or  to  please  ourselves  ?  Our 
answer  to  this  question  determines  our  life-current. 

Securities  Well  Invested. 

Success  is  not  abundance  of  means,  but  of  man- 
hood. Heaven's  beginnings  are  in  us  now,  or  the 
outlook  is  bad.  Heaven  is  knowledge  of  God, 
loyalty  to  God,  likeness  to  God,  and  joy  and 
peace  and  love  in  the  bud.  Heaven  begins  here 
or  nowhere.  Jesus  had  no  beatitudes  for  earthly 
success,  gold,  political  power,  social  influence,  but 
for  meekness,  hunger  after  righteousness,  peace- 
making, purity,  patience.  These  are  possessions 
death  cannot  spoil.  Seek  ye  first  his  kingdom, 
and  let  things  come  and  go  as  God  wills.  True 
wealth  is  not  what  my  estate  amounts  to,  but 
what  I  amount  to.  Thou  art  weighed  is  the  time- 
less test,  and  character  is  the  only  eternal  security. 
4i 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

— —  i       i  '■     ■  '  — — — — » 

Hope. 

Failure  will  hurt  but  not  hinder  us.  Disillu- 
sion will  pain  but  not  dishearten  us.  Sorrows 
will  shake  us  but  not  break  us.  Hope  will  set 
the  music  ringing  and  quicken  our  lagging  pace. 
We  need  hope  for  living  far  more  than  for  dying. 
Dying  is  easy  work  compared  with  living.  Dying 
is  a  moment's  transition  ;  living,  a  transaction  of 
years.  It  is  the  length  of  the  rope  that  puts  the 
sag  in  it.  Hope  tightens  the  cords  and  tunes  up 
the  heart-strings.  Work  well,  then  ;  suffer  pa- 
tiently, rejoicing  in  hope.  God  knows  all,  and 
yet  is  the  God  of  Hope.  And  when  we  have 
hoped  to  the  end  here,  He  will  give  us  something 
to  look  forward  to,  for  all  eternity.  For  "  hope 
abideth." 

Life's  Arena. 
How  utterly  opposed  to  the  thought  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  all  asceticism,  all  religious  isolation  and 
retreat  from  the  world.  His  aim  was  not  to  get 
his  followers  out  of  the  world,  but  to  get  them 
into  the  world.  Society,  not  solitude,  is  the  nat- 
ural home  of  Christianity.  The  Christian  is  not 
to  flee  from  the  contagion  of  evil,  but  to  meet  it 
with  the  contact  of  health  and  holiness.  The 
church  is  not  to  be  built  on  glass  posts  for  moral 
insulation,  but  among  the  homes  of  common  men 
42 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

for  moral  transformation.  What  use  is  a  light 
under  a  bushel  ?  It  must  shine  where  there  is 
darkness.  The  place  of  need  is  the  field  of  duty, 
and  though  we  are  not  to  be  of  the  world,  we  are 
to  be  first  and  last  in  the  world  and  for  the  world. 

Watching  the  Proportions. 
A  right  relation  is  in  wrong  proportions  when 
God's  kingdom  is  obscured  or  forgotten.  Chris- 
tians have  a  right  to  make  money  ;  no  one  has  a 
better  right.  But  when  money-making  means 
such  absorption  of  time  and  vitality,  that  Chris- 
tian work  and  worship  cannot  be  kept  up,  there 
the  line  is  crossed  between  right  and  wrong.  The 
making  and  beautifying  of  a  home  is  work  of  a 
high  order,  but  where  it  leaves  no  interest  in  the 
homes  of  the  poor  and  degraded,  and  no  time  or 
money  for  saving  the  homeless,  it  becomes  down- 
right selfishness.  Flesh  is  good,  but  too  much  in 
a  runner  balks  the  prize.  Let  us  lay  aside  the 
extra  weight,  and  train  ourselves  that  we  may  so 
run  as  to  obtain.  The  lawful  must  not  lead  to 
the  loveless. 

Honesty  in  Consecration. 

We  are  more  apt  to  see  the  comfort  in  the 

words  "  She  hath  done  what  she  could,"  than  the 

solemnity  of  them.     They  are  a  tender  recogni- 

43 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

tion,  but  a  tremendous  challenge.  "What  she 
could  "  means  all  she  could.  The  Master  com- 
pares us,  not  with  others,  but  with  ourselves. 
There  is  the  mercy.  But  with  our  best  selves, 
with  our  possible  selves,  there  is  the  rub.  What 
I  did,  subtracted  from  what  I  might  have  done, 
gives  the  bad  remainder,  the  immoral  debit,  the 
moral  discredit. 

"  There's  a  kindness  in  his  justice  that  is  more 
than  liberty."  Thank  God  for  it,  but  let  us  not 
misunderstand  the  truth  and  think  we  are  at  lib- 
erty to  do  what  we  happen  to  feel  like.  Did  the 
Lord  say  of  Sapphira,  "  She  hath  done  what  she 
could  "i> 

Now  the  Only  Time. 
God  does  not  help  his  children  now  and  then, 
but  now,  always  now.  There  is  no  "  then  "  ;  it 
exists  only  in  imagination.  The  only  time  we 
ever  actually  need  God  is  now.  If  "  then " 
troubles  us  in  imagination  and  we  wonder  what 
will  become  of  us  then,  let  us  learn  to  live  with 
God  now.  Form  the  habit  of  using  God  and  be- 
ing used  of  God,  and  the  imaginary  and  dreadful 
"  then "  will  be  swallowed  up  in  the  stream  of 
now  when  the  time  comes.  No  clocks  keep  time 
to-morrow.  Springs  push  and  hands  point  now. 
Now  is  the  appointed  time  for  clocks  as  well  as 
44 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

people.  God  never  helped  anyone  to-morrow. 
He  is  a  very  present  help.  What  is  eternity,  but 
God's  now  ?  Let  us  then  live  the  eternal  life  with 
God  now. 

Seeing  the  Good. 
Why  is  it  that  the  bad  side  of  life  seems  so 
much  more  conspicuous  than  the  good  ?  Is  it  be- 
cause predominance  of  evil  makes  it  more  com- 
mon, or  that  we  being  evil  see  it  more  readily,  or 
that  the  abnormal,  by  its  nature,  stands  out  ex- 
crescent and  disfiguring  ?  Whatever  the  answer, 
it  should  be  the  ambition  of  every  lover  of  good- 
ness to  make  much  of  goodness,  to  sound  its 
praises,  to  flavor  his  words  with  its  appreciation. 
Part  of  hating  evil  is  ignoring  it,  neglecting  it. 
Thinking  of  things  of  good  report  and  speaking 
of  th°m  strengthens  good.  Shutting  our  mouths 
as  well  as  our  ears  against  the  bruit  of  evil,  in  the 
scorn  of  silence,  weakens  its  hold  upon  us.  What 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  say  should  strengthen 
the  side  of  the  Lord  of  the  redeemed. 


Boundlessness  of  God's  Purposes. 

Let  us  beware  of  limiting  God.  Nothing  is 
more  foolish  than  to  bound  his  purposes,  espe- 
cially in  the  matter  of  tuition,  of  the  divine  inten* 

45 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

tion  and  discipline.  What  can  iron  ore  in  the 
furnace  know  of  its  fine  and  final  uses,  or  a  soul 
in  affliction  know  of  "the  far-off  interest  of 
tears  "  ?  We  have  the  minnow's  right,  as  Carlyle 
puts  it,  to  say  what  we  find  in  our  little  creek, 
but  no  right  to  bound  the  river  and  ocean  beyond 
our  small  ideas.  Let  us  ever  be  subject  to  hope 
in  our  life's  tasks,  saying,  "  It  is  the  Lord,1' 
strengthening  ourselves  with  a  cheerful  faith  that 
His  purpose  is  eternal,  alive  with  love,  overleap- 
ing the  last  limit  of  what  we  ask  or  think. 

Getting  Ahead  of  Whom? 

Our  business  in  life  is  not  to  get  ahead  of  other 
people,  but  to  get  ahead  of  ourselves.  To  break 
our  own  record,  to  outstrip  our  yesterdays  by  to- 
days, to  bear  our  trials  more  beautifully  than  we 
ever  dreamed  we  could,  to  whip  the  tempter  inside 
and  out  as  we  never  whipped  him  before,  to  give 
as  we  never  have  given,  to  do  our  work  with  more 
force  and  a  finer  finish  than  ever, — this  is  the  true 
idea, — to  get  ahead  of  ourselves.  To  beat  some 
one  else  in  a  game,  or  to  be  beaten,  may  mean 
much  or  little.  To  beat  our  own  game  means  a 
great  deal.  Whether  we  win  or  not,  we  are  play- 
ing better  than  we  ever  did  before,  and  that's 
the  point  after  all — to  play  a  better  game  of 
life. 

46 


THOUGHTS   FOR   E\ERY-DAY   LIVING 

Faithfulness  First. 
Swift  runs  and  short  cuts,  so  characteristic  of 
our  modern  life,  are  great  perils.  We  want 
everything  in  a  hurry,  but  most  good  things  are 
shy  with  strangers.  Children  want  pieces  on  the 
piano  before  scales  or  training  of  that  weak  third 
finger.  The  poet  says,  "Wait  a  while.'"  Life 
cries,  "  Work  a  long  while."  The  unerring  light 
of  love  and  joy's  security,  of  which  Wordsworth 
writes,  belong  to  the  Ode  to  Duty.  You  long  for 
perfection  ?  Its  root  is  perficiency — proficiency. 
Bury  your  conscientiousness  in  the  field  of  your 
daily  labor,  and  some  day  there  will  be  flowers 
and  fragrance  fit  for  heaven.  It  has  been  said 
that  "  grace  is  the  lovely  result  of  forgotten  toil." 

Living  Belief. 
To  know  one  or  two  truths  deeply  gives  more 
power  than  a  speaking  acquaintance  with  a  score. 
The  living  force  in  any  man's  creed  is  not  in  what 
he  has  traditionally  accepted,  but  what  he  has 
made  part  of  his  daily  life.  Words  that  are 
"  spirit  and  life  "  are  indubitable  and  irresistible. 
Many  truths,  like  things  lawful,  but  not  expedi- 
ent, are  true,  but  not  indispensable.  Whether 
certain  things  were  so  or  not  did  not  concern  the 
man  who  knew  one  thing — "  Whereas  I  was  blind, 
47 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

now  I  see."  A  veritable  experience  stands  fire 
and  water,  and,  put  into  words,  becomes  a  man's 
living  belief.  What  others  have  known,  he  may 
yet  know ;  but  he  has  made  his  own  beginning, 
and  is  founded  on  a  rock.  If  a  man  knows  whom 
he  has  believed,  he  has  eternal  life,  and  will  be  led 
into  all  truth. 


Genuine  Christianity. 
Christianity  is  not  a  voice  in  the  wilderness, 
but  a  life  in  the  world.  It  is  not  an  idea  in  the 
air  but  feet  on  the  ground,  going  God's  way.  It 
is  not  an  exotic  to  be  kept  under  glass,  but  a 
hardy  plant  to  bear  twelve  manner  of  fruits  in  all 
kinds  of  weather.  Fidelity  to  duty  is  its  root 
and  branch.  Nothing  we  can  say  to  the  Lord, 
no  calling  him  by  great  or  dear  names,  can  take 
the  place  of  the  plain  doing  of  his  will.  We  may 
cry  out  about  the  beauty  of  eating  bread  with 
him  in  his  kingdom,  but  it  is  wasted  breath  and 
a  rootless  hope,  unless  we  plow  and  plant  in  his 
kingdom  here  and  now.  To  remember  him  at  his 
table  and  to  forget  him  at  ours,  is  to  have  invest- 
ed in  bad  securities.  There  is  no  substitute  for 
plain,  every-day  goodness. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

God's  Knowledge  of  What  We  Shall  Be. 

Our  heavenly  Father  has  a  way  of  looking  at 
us,  his  children,  that  ought  to  be  a  great  comfort 
and  incentive  to  us.  He  sees,  not  merely  what 
we  are,  but  what  we  shall  be.  And,  for  the  joy 
set  before  Him  of  the  perfected  work,  He  endures 
the  days  of  crudeness  and  mistake.  He  sees  the 
man  in  the  child,  the  painting  in  the  sketch,  the 
angel  in  the  marble.  If  He  saw  us  only  in  our- 
selves, He  would  see  us  only  as  we  are  ;  but,  seeing 
us  in  Christ,  He  sees  beyond  repentance  and  trust 
and  struggle,  beyond  justification  and  sanctifica- 
tion  and  glorification,  to  the  cap-stone  of  Christ- 
likeness  ;  and  "  let  every  man  that  hath  this  hope 
in  him  purify  himself,  even  as  he  is  pure." 

Sin. 

Sin  is  unnatural,  abnormal.  Wrong  means 
wrung ;  sin  means  wide  of  the  mark ;  iniquity  is 
inequity.  Deformity,  disfigurement,  disgrace,  all 
imply  a  falling  away  from  the  ideal.  Jesus  was 
natural.  His  life  was  the  kind  of  life  we  were 
meant  to  live.  He  touched  work  and  rest  and 
play  and  thought  and  the  out-door  world,  friends 
and  children,  and  sickness  and  trouble,  and  every- 
thing, in  the  divinely  natural  way.  He  was  un- 
sociable only  in  sin.  He  could  not  be  unnatural 
49 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

and  cross  his  Father^  good  and  holy  will.  He 
gave  the  naturalness,  the  super-naturalness,  of  his 
life  to  cure  the  unnaturalness  of  ours.  He  related 
himself  to  sin  only  to  remove  it  and  redeem  us 
from  its  power,  that  God  might  again  say,  "  Very 
good  "  of  all  nature,  and  paradise  be  regained. 

Christlike. 

How  easily  and  contentedly  we  speak  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  our  example.  Do  we  realize  what  it 
means  ?  If  we  did,  it  would  revolutionize  our 
life.  Do  we  begin  to  know  our  Bible  as  He  did  ? 
Do  we  begin  to  pray  as  He  did  ?  How  thought- 
ful He  was  for  others,  how  patient  toward  dulness, 
how  quiet  under  insult !  Think  of  what  it  meant 
for  Him  to  take  a  basin  and  towel  like  a  slave  and 
wash  the  disciples'*  feet !  Do  we  stoop  to  serve  ? 
Can  any  one  say  of  us,  as  was  said  of  Him,  that 
we  go  about  "  doing  good  "  ?  Think  of  his  words, 
servants  of  his,  "I  have  given  you  an  example, 
that  ye  should  do  as  I  have  done  to  you.1" 

"  Christlike  "  is  a  word  often  on  our  lips.  Do 
not  speak  it  too  lightly.  It  is  the  heart  of  God's 
predestination.     It  is  our  high  calling. 

More  than  "I   Am  Sorry." 
When  Jesus  said,  "  Repent,"  he  meant  more 
than  a  changed  attitude  toward  sins  that  are  past. 
50 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DA?   LIVING 

He  meant  a  change  of  mind  toward  sin  itself.  It 
is  not  enough  to  say,  "  I  am  sorry  I  did  those 
things  that  were  wrong.""  We  must  see  all  that 
is  sinful  or  may  be  sinful  in  a  different  light. 
Repentance  means  another  way  of  thinking,  a 
new  attitude  toward  the  future  as  well  as  the 
past. 

The  Psalmist  did  not  merely  look  back  and  say, 
"I  acknowledged  my  sin  unto  thee,  and  thou 
forgavest  its  iniquity ,"  but  said,  as  he  looked 
ahead,  "  I  am  purposed  that  my  mouth  shall  not 
transgress.  I  will  behave  myself  wisely  in  a  per- 
fect way." 

Folly  of  Trifling  with  Trifles. 
Trifles  are  trifles  only  to  triflers.  To  the 
thoughtful  they  are  symptoms  of  peril,  signs  of 
hope,  opportunities  of  love.  To  ignore  trifles  is 
to  be  ignorant  of  the  spot  where  decisions  are 
made  and  destinies  determined.  Railroads  figure, 
not  on  dollars  and  cents,  but  on  fractions  of 
mills ;  and  we  have  discovered  of  late  that  God 
plows  and  harrows  his  fields  with  earth-worms, 
and  puts  the  burden  of  his  creation  on  beasts  that 
can  swarm  through  the  eye  of  the  needle.  Awake 
to  the  significance  of  the  insignificant !  for  you  are 
in  a  world  that  belongs,  not  alone  to  the  God  of 
the  Infinite,  but  to  the  God  of  the  Infinitesimal. 
51 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Holding  in  the  Bad  Bacilli. 

A  sure  cure  for  gossip  and  slander  is  to  breathe 
through  your  nose — keep  your  mouth  shut.  A 
certain  amount  of  your  dying  body  (for  you  die 
daily,  momentarily)  floats  off  on  your  breath  into 
the  air.  And  God  has  filled  the  world  with  plant 
life  to  absorb  such  products,  such  effete  and 
poisonous  material.  But  gossip  and  slander  on 
your  outgoing  breath  have  only  people  to  absorb 
them.  The  flowers,  happily  for  their  fragrance, 
have  no  way  of  taking  them  in.  Be  good  enough 
to  the  air,  good  enough  to  people,  to  let  all  wick- 
edness and  malice  remain  inside  you.  Germs  of 
love,  bacilli  of  brotherliness,  will  eat  them  up, 
and  you  will  be  strong  and  beautiful  and  beloved. 

Making  Duty  a  Delight. 
How  deep  rooted,  how  gloriously  pathetic,  is 
the  idea  of  moral  order.  Man  has  never  been 
without  it ;  it  is  part  of  his  make-up,  his  stock 
in  trade.  Let  him  believe  in  no  god,  like  the 
Buddhist ;  in  two  gods,  like  the  Zoroastrian ;  in 
many  gods,  like  the  Greek ;  or  in  one  God,  like 
the  Jew  and  Christian — he  yet  holds  to  a  supreme 
ideal  of  moral  order.  Rooted  in  the  heart  of 
man  is  the  sense  of  duty  as  profound  within  as 
the  starry  heavens  are  exalted  without.  There  is 
52 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

something  he  owes  himself,  his  fellows,  and  his 
God,  which  becomes  his  "  ought,"  something  due 
which  is  his  "  duty."  He  is  "  haunted  forever  by 
the  eternal  mind."  Appeal  to  this  sense  of  right 
in  children,  reverence  and  obey  it  in  ourselves, 
clarify,  dignify,  glorify  it  in  the  light  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  one  day  duty  and  delight  will  be  one. 

Disposition. 

Have  you  ever  said,  "  I  wish  I  had  a  more 
cheerful  disposition  "  ?  How  much  do  you  wish 
it  ?  Enough  to  dispose  yourself  so  as  to  be  in  the 
way  of  getting  it  ?  Your  words  are  idle  and 
sinful  unless  you  will  to  have  it  instead  of  wish- 
ing to  have  it.  You  are  not  responsible  for  the 
disposition  you  were  born  witha  but  you  are  re- 
sponsible for  the  one  you  die  with. 

Everything  you  carelessly  or  seriously  propose 
to  do  affects  what  you  are  disposed  to  do.  You 
are  disposed  to  look  on  the  dark  side,  borrow 
trouble,  and  say  discouraging  things.  Suppose 
you  earnestly  propose  for  one  week  to  look  for 
pleasant  things,  and  speak  of  them,  and  never 
speak  of  what  you  dread  or  do  not  like.  You 
will  be  more  cheerfully  and  happily  disposed  at 
the  end  of  the  week,  and  you  know  it.  "  If  ye 
know  these  things,  happy  are  ye  if  ye  do 
them." 

53 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Contentment. 

Contentment  is  not  satisfaction.  It  is  the 
grateful,  faithful,  fruitful  use  of  what  we  have, 
little  or  much.  It  is  to  take  the  cup  of  Provi- 
dence, and  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord. 
What  the  cup  contains  is  its  contents.  To  get 
all  there  is  in  the  cup  is  the  act  and  art  of  con- 
tentment. Not  to  drink  because  one  has  but  half 
a  cup,  or  because  one  does  not  like  its  flavor,  or 
because  some  one  else  has  silver  to  one's  own 
glass,  is  to  lose  the  contents ;  and  that  is  the 
penalty,  if  not  the  meaning  of  discontent.  No 
one  is  discontented  who  employs  and  enjoys  to 
the  utmost  what  he  has.  It  is  high  philosophy 
to  say,  we  can  have  just  what  we  like,  if  we  like 
what  we  have ;  but  this  much  at  least  can  be 
done,  and  this  is  contentment, — to  have  the  most 
and  best  in  life,  by  making  the  most  and  best  of 
what  we  have. 

To-Day. 

No  loving  word  was  ever  spoken,  no  good  deed 
ever  done,  "  to-morrow."  We  cannot  act  in  the 
unborn  future,  nor  in  the  dead  past — only  in  the 
living  present.  That  is  why  "  every  day  is  a 
dooms-day,1'  for  to-day  holds  life  and  death, 
character  and  destiny,  in  its  hands.  Opportunity 
says  with  Jesus,  "  Me  ye  have  not  always."  We 
54 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

say  :  "  I  will  take  my  chances.  There  is  plenty 
of  time."  Ah,  how  often  do  we  say,  "  some  other 
time,"  to  find  that  there  is  no  other  time  !  Some 
things  we  can  do  "  not  always."  How  shall  we 
find  out  what  things  can  be  done  any  time,  and 
what  things  now  or  never  ?  Only  by  living  in  the 
faith  that  to-day  is  the  only  day  we  have  and 
challenging  every  opportunity  for  its  meaning. 
Esau  filled  his  life  with  regret  for  trifling  one 
day ;  Esther's  was  full  of  glory  for  one  day's  cour- 
age. Peter  slept  one  hour,  and  lost  a  matchless 
opportunity.  Mary's  name  is  fragrant  forever 
for  the  loving  deed  of  a  day.     Do  your  best  now. 

Obligation  to  Receive. 

It  is  not  so  hard  to  receive  as  it  is  to  have  to  re- 
ceive. To  be  obliged  to  take  a  gift  makes  us  agree 
swiftly  with  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus  when  he 
said,  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive." 
Then  we  see  that  it  is  harder  to  take  gracefully 
the  kindnesses  of  our  friends,  than  even  their  buffet- 
ings  for  our  faults.  But  when  we  must  receive, 
then  that  is  the  will  of  God  for  us,  and  just  then 
more  beneficial  to  us  than  giving.  Some  one 
must  receive,  if  another  is  to  give.  We  must  be 
willing,  not  only  to  serve,  but  to  be  served ;  not 
only  to  bear  others'  burdens,  but  let  others  bear 
ours ;  not  only  to  minister  to  the  sick,  but  to  be 
55 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

simply  and  thankfully  ministered  unto  ;  not  only 
give,  but  receive.  It  is  sometimes  the  will  of 
God  that  we  should  let  others  do  the  will  of  God, 
and  ourselves  be  the  occasions  instead  of  the 
authors  of  kindness. 


Foggy  Mornings. 

Fog  in  one's  spiritual  life  need  be  no  more  last- 
ing than  that  in  nature.  "  It  will  burn  off  before 
long."  How  often  weather-wise  people  say  this 
when  the  gray  mists  of  the  sea-shore  depress  the 
hearts  that  were  longing  for  a  bright  day ;  and 
so  it  proves.  A  glow  of  silver  in  the  sky  near 
the  sun,  a  thinning  out  here  and  there  of  the 
vapory  shroud ;  glimpses  of  blue,  clean  outlining 
and  swift  sailing  away  of  the  clouds,  and  the  fine 
clear  day  is  here  long  before  noon.  We  might 
oftener  save  ourselves  from  heavy  hearts  and 
gloomy  faces,  when  early  morning  shows  gray  in 
our  lives,  or  other  lives  about  us.  Mists  are  left 
over  from  a  storm  yesterday.  The  day  closed  on 
a  misunderstanding.  The  morning  is  foggy  and 
depressing.  Why  talk  about  it  ?  Let  the 
weather  alone.  Fog  is  shallow.  It  will  bum  off 
before  long.  There  is  a  good  warm  sun  of  love 
at  work,  and  the  blue  sky  will  soon  be  over  us. 


56 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

Deathlessness. 

Death  is  a  great  preacher  of  deathlessness. 
The  protest  of  the  soul  against  death,  its  rever- 
sion, its  revulsion,  is  a  high  instinct  of  life.  Dis- 
satisfaction in  his  world  who  satisfieth  the  desire 
of  every  living  thing  has  a  grip  on  the  future. 

As  far  as  this  goes,  he  has  the  least  assurance 
of  immortality  who  can  be  best  satisfied  with  eat- 
ing and  drinking  and  "  things  "  ;  he  has  the  surest 
hope  of  ongoings  and  far  distances  who  does  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  whose  eye  is  looking  over  the 
shoulder  of  things,  whose  ear  hears  mighty  waters 
rolling  evermore,  who  has  "hopes  naught  can 
satisfy  below.'"  The  limits  of  which  death  makes 
us  aware,  make  us  aware  of  life's  limitlessness. 
The  wing  whose  stretch  touches  the  bars  of  its 
cage  knows  it  was  meant  for  an  "  ampler  ether 
and  diviner  air.1' 


Principles  Rather  than  Rules. 
Rules  are  good,  but  principles  are  better. 
Rules  may  contradict,  confuse ;  principles  are 
constant,  consistent.  To  live  by  rule  is  too  often 
to  miss  the  nobler  mastery,  the  mental  and  moral 
developing  of  principle.  To  live  by  principle  is 
to  be  led  to  the  best  rules.  When  Jesus  spoke 
of  going  two  miles  with  the  one  who  asked  for 
57 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

one  mile's  companionship,  of  giving  the  extra 
cloak,  of  turning  the  other  cheek,  he  was  not 
laying  down  rules,  but  lifting  up  principles. 
Washing  the  disciples'  feet  and  bidding  us  do  as 
he  did  was  not  a  rule,  but  a  principle ;  otherwise 
it  could  only  be  an  oriental  idiom,  whereas  now  it 
is  a  universal  idea.  Given  the  idea,  the  idiom  will 
follow.  The  greater  involves  the  less.  Principle 
is  prophetic,  genetic,  dynamic.  Love  will  take 
care  of  politeness,  for  it  is  its  heart,  and  the  heart 
vitalizes  the  hands ;  but  rules  of  etiquette  and 
deportment  are  no  guarantee  of  love. 

Working  Out  Salvation. 
No  man  can  work  up  his  own  salvation,  but 
every  Christian  who  has  received  it  must  work  it 
out  in  his  own  life.  "  Work  out  your  own  salva- 
tion with  fear  and  trembling,"  was  written,  not  to 
unbelievers,  but  to  "  the  saints  who  were  in  Christ 
Jesus  at  Philippi."  We  work  for  Jesus,  not  for 
salvation  ;  not  in  order  to  be  saved,  but  because 
we  are  saved.  Salvation  is  not  a  property  to  be 
bought,  but  to  be  developed,  a  talent  to  be  traded 
with,  an  idea  to  be  realized,  a  theme  to  be  worked 
out,  "  with  fear  and  trembling,"  not  lest  we  should 
not  be  saved,  but  lest  we  should  misrepresent  our 
Saviour.  And  what  cheer  and  what  encourage- 
ment in  the  words,  "  for  it  is  God  who  worketh  in 
58 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

you."  What  in-spiration,  en-ergy,  en-thusiasm  ! 
Work  out  God's  thought,  for  God  works  with  you, 
and  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  his  good 
pleasure. 

A  Good  World. 
This  is  the  best  possible  world  for  one  who  is 
called  according  to  God's  purpose,  or  purposes 
according  to  God's  calling.  We  are  infected  with 
infidelity  when  we  sigh  for  the  wings  of  a  dove. 
We  sing,  "  God  is  wisdom,  God  is  love.1'  If  we 
believe  it,  we  shall  act  as  though  we  believe  it, 
and  face  our  tasks  with  fidelity  and  our  tests  with 
fortitude.  God  knows  why  we  are  here,  and  has 
told  us, — to  learn  and  to  do,  for  discipline  and 
duty.  Can  we  imagine  a  world  better  fitted  for 
those  ends  than  this  world  ?  How  long  we  are  to 
suffer  or  serve  is  for  God  to  say.  Let  us  not  look 
too  much  out  of  the  school-room  windows  or  too 
impatiently  at  the  clock.  When  God's  time  for 
us  comes,  well  and  good.  Till  then,  this  world  is 
the  best  for  us,  and  we  must  make  the  most  of  it, 
and  do  our  best  for  it. 

The  Ascension. 

The  ascension  of  Christ  added  distance  to  defi- 
niteness  in  worship.  Definiteness  we  must  have, 
as  every  craving  for  a  theophany,  every  instinct 

59 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

of  idolatry  proves.  "  Lord  show  us  the  Father 
and  it  sufficeth  us"  is  prompted  by  this  feeling. 
The  Incarnation  is  God's  response  to  this  human 
need.  But  imagine  Jesus  living  on  indefinitely 
after  the  resurrection,  even  under  the  earthly 
conditions  which  obtained  during  those  forty 
days  ! 

Worship  demands  the  far  distances  of  God ;  it 
protests  against  the  little,  the  near,  the  material. 
It  must  love  but  it  must  look  up.  It  cannot  live 
without  the  note  of  spirituality  and  universality, 
if  not  mystery.  The  ascension,  the  passing  of 
Christ  within  the  veil,  answers  this  need.  So 
does  a  full-robed  Christianity  add  to  definiteness 
of  knowledge  the  outreach  of  imagination  and 
home. 

A  Habit  Worth  Forming. 
There  is  a  quality  about  all  we  do  to  please 
our  Father  that  redeems  the  lowliest  task  from 
insignificance,  puts  hope  in  the  most  monotonous 
duty,  and  dignifies  the  smallest  annoyance.  If 
we  think  of  life  as  our  opportunity  in  which  to 
form  the  habit  of  doing  everything  to  please  Him, 
nothing  is  trivial.  The  care  of  our  bodies,  the 
orderly  arrangement  of  our  clothes,  books,  papers, 
tools,  keeping  accounts,  meeting  engagements, 
politeness  to  strangers,  kindness  to  servants, 
60 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

thoughtfulness  for  the  aged,  gentleness  to  chil- 
dren, our  manners  at  home,  abroad,  in  church,  in 
society, — all  are  opportunities  of  showing  whose 
we  are,  and  whom  we  serve.  Whether  we  eat  or 
drink,  give  or  receive  a  cup  of  cold  water,  or  what- 
ever we  do,  we  can  strengthen  the  habit  of  pleasing 
God.  This  is  the  habit  best  worth  cultivating, 
for  it  will  outlive  life,  and  keep  pace  with  eter- 
nity. 

A  Specialist. 

No  more  ardent  specialist  than  Paul  ever  lived. 
For  him  to  live  was  Christ.  Every  thought  was 
brought  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of  Christ. 
His  tent-making  was  that  Christ's  name  should 
bear  no  reproach ;  his  sickness  and  weakness  were 
Christ's  opportunity;  his  success  was  a  wreath 
for  his  Lord.  Whatever  grace  of  a  Greek,  dis- 
cipline of  a  Roman,  conscientiousness  of  a  He- 
brew, was  his,  he  used  it  to  lure  Greeks, 
Romans,  Jews  to  Christ.  It  was  universal  sub- 
ordination for  one  supreme  purpose :  "  Christ 
shall  be  magnified  in  me,  whether  it  be  by  life 
or  by  death." 

Such  a  life  to-day,  bearing  in  every  part  the 
seal  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  each  one  of  us  who  seeks 
to  glorify  the  Lord  in  working   or   witnessing, 
doing  or  bearing,  can  live. 
61 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Looking  Backward. 
The  pain,  the  unnaturalness,  tfie  seeming  cru- 
elty of  early  death,  would  be  mitigated,  if  we 
could  get  a  larger  perspective  and  a  better  sense 
of  proportion.  If  we  are  all  going  abroad,  and 
the  steamer  sails  at  five  o'clock,  some  of  us  may 
go  aboard  at  nine  in  the  morning,  and  some  at 
noon,  some  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and 
some  at  the  last  moment,  just  as  the  plank  is  be- 
ing drawn.  That  day,  the  time  of  embarking 
may  seem  of  much  importance,  but  when  we  are 
all  out  and  the  land-line  has  dipped  below  the 
horizon,  will  it  seem  of  great  importance  that 
some  went  aboard  a  little  earlier,  or  some  a  little 
later  ?  Should  we  not  comfort  ourselves  with  the 
thought  that,  after  all,  the  real  life  is  so  great 
that  the  distances  and  delays  and  waitings  of  this 
life  will  be  closed  up  in  the  far-away  shore  line, 
and  sorrow  and  sighing  flee  away  forever  when 
the  redeemed  of  the  Lord  get  home  ? 

A  Pattern  for  Us  All. 
Science  is  teaching  us  lessons  concerning  the 
physical  structure  of  the  universe.  The  same 
stuff  is  ablaze  in  Sirius  and  the  Sun  and  the  flam- 
ing heart  of  the  earth,  and  so  Jesus  Christ  gives 
us  the  moral  unity  of  all  the  worlds.  The  setting 
62 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

of  the  next  life  we  can  little  imagine,  but  this  we 
know,  that  God's  ideal  of  life  is  Jesus  Christ.  We 
are  to  be  like  him.  That  is  the  real  predestina- 
tion. He  who  in  both  worlds  delighted  to  do  his 
Father's  will,  suffered  with  brave  hope,  obeyed 
with  changeless  fidelity,  served  with  supreme,  un- 
failing love,  is  the  universal  type.  God  tells  us 
that  it  is  enough  to  be  like  him.  The  words  he 
uttered  "  Good  and  faithful "  are  negotiable  in 
both  worlds.  Character  and  capacity  are  all  of 
life  that  we  can  take  with  us  when  death  swings 
open  the  door  from  this  into  the  next  room  in 
our  Father's  house. 

Uselessness  of  Altruism  Without  Christ. 

Altruism  means  other-ism.  "  Do  unto  others 
as  you  would  that  men  should  do  unto  you." 
"Look  not  every  man  on  his  own  things,  but 
every  man  also  on  the  things  of  others."  "  Let 
every  man  seek  not  his  own  welfare,  but  the  wel- 
fare of  another."  "Bear  ye  one  another's  bur- 
dens, and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ."  Altruism 
announces  itself  to-day  as  though  it  were  an  in- 
dependent system,  a  new  discovery.  It  is  but  a 
cutting  from  the  Christian  plant.  There  is  no 
hope  for  any  abiding  life  apart  from  its  Christian 
root.  Altruism  without  Christ  is  a  Christian 
after-glow,  a  spent  Christian  bullet.  It  is  to  say, 
63 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

"  Cut  down  the  tree ;  all  we  want  is  the  shadow," 
or,  "  I  do  not  need  the  sun  ;  the  twilight  is  suffi- 
cient." Christ  alone  is  the  power  of  God  and  the 
power  of  a  goodness  which  can  realize  and  sustain 
itself  in  service  or  sacrifice  for  others. 


The  Witness  of  Life. 
Christ's  life  was  a  more  substantial  and  effectual 
self-revelation  to  mankind  than  his  teachings. 
We  can  hardly  doubt  that  the  influence  of  his  life 
was  more  powerful  than  that  of  his  words  in  lead- 
ing his  disciples  to  believe  in  him.  What  the  dis- 
ciples saw  must  have  led  them  quite  as  certainly 
to  recognize  his  divinity  as  what  they  heard. 
His  attitude  toward  sin  and  hypocrisy,  trouble 
and  bereavement ;  his  behavior  with  open  ene- 
mies and  deceitful  friends ;  his  bearing  under 
falsehood  and  insults  and  suffering — all  constitute 
a  divine  testimony,  without  which  his  teachings 
would  have  lacked  their  divinest  authority.  He 
chose  the  twelve  "  to  be  with  him."  When  they 
had  learned  to  know,  not  his  doctrines,  but  him- 
self, then  he  could  send  them  forth.  Knowing 
him,  they  could  not  be  moved.  What  emphasis 
this  puts  upon  Paul's  words  to  Timothy  and  to 
us :  "  Take  heed  unto  thyself  and  unto  the  doc- 
trine." 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Speaking  a  Ship. 

How  interesting  the  meeting  and  greeting  and 
passing  of  those  ships  in  the  desert — Philip  and 
the  Ethiopian  officer !  Only  a  look  and  a  voice, 
then  light,  brotherhood  and  joy.  Philip  had 
something  to  give,  and  there  was  something  the 
officer  longed  for.  One  had  the  joy  of  giving, 
the  other  of  receiving ;  each  went  on  his  way  re- 
joicing, a  better  man. 

Does  the  Providence  of  God  often  bring  us 
within  hailing  distance  of  each  other  ?  Are  you 
seeking  the  light,  conscious  of  a  want  ?  Remem- 
ber God's  promises,  if  you  are  in  earnest,  "  Blessed 
are  they  that  hunger  and  thirst,"  "  Every  one 
that  seeketh  findeth."  Or  are  you  a  Philip,  an 
expert  in  the  way  of  Christ  ?  If  so,  should  you 
meet  one  who  is  groping  for  light  and  hungry 
for  the  true  bread,  you  can  tell  him  straightway 
of  Christ.  Do  you  know  the  way  so  well  that 
you  can  show  it  to  some  one  else  and  send  him 
away  rejoicing  ? 

11  Either  Pull,  or  Bail,  or  Cut  Bait." 

Work  is  a  privilege,  and  work  is  a  duty.  This 
is  true  in  every  sphere  of  life  and  in  all  spheres. 
No  sphere  is  so  exalted  as  to  lift  its  members 
above  the  importance  and  gain  of  earnest  toil,  and 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

no  sphere  is  so  low  as  to  bring  its  members  below 
the  possibility  of  this  blessing.  Paul  said  of 
Christian  brethren  in  his  day,  "  If  any  will  not 
work,  neither  let  him  eat.""  That  is  sound  and 
sensible  counsel  for  any  day.  "Either  pull,  or 
bail,  or  cut  bait,"  was  the  imperative  order  in  a 
leaky  fishing  boat  at  a  distance  from  the  shore. 
All  were  to  work  in  some  way.  Wherever  we  are, 
there  is  something  for  us  to  do  for  ourselves  and 
our  fellows.  Let  us  help  to  make  progress,  or  try 
to  fight  leaks,  or,  at  all  events,  help  those  who  are 
working.  "  Either  pull,  or  bail,  or  cut  bait."  If 
we  refuse  to  do  one  of  them,  we  have  no  claim  on 
the  limited  supply  of  rations. 

God's  Love  in  Eternity. 

It  is  the  "where  I  am"  that  makes  heaven. 
The  life  after  death  might  become  through  its 
very  endlessness  a  burden  to  our  spirits,  if  it  were 
not  to  be  filled  with  the  infinite  variety  and  fresh- 
ness of  God's  love.  Some  have  shrunk  from  its 
very  infinitude,  because  they  have  not  realized 
what  God's  love  can  make  of  it.  Human  love 
helps  us  to  understand  this.  When  we  have 
come  to  love  any  one  with  all  our  power  of  affec- 
tion, then  there  is  no  monotony  or  weariness  in 
the  days  and  hours  we  spend  with  them.  We  be- 
gin to  look  with  jealousy  on  anything  that  may 

66 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

interrupt  our  intercourse  with  them,  and  to  look 
forward  with  joy  fulness  to  the  prospect  of  having 
long  and  happy  days  with  them.  It  is  God's 
presence  which  will  make  the  life  after  death  one 
of  endless  joy.  "  That  where  I  am,  ye  may  be 
also,"  He  has  said. 


Captivity. 
Did  the  Jews  have  to  lose  their  home  and  go 
into  captivity  because  God  decided  that  it  would 
be  a  good  way  to  punish  them  ?  Was  it  a  deci- 
sion of  God's  just  then  ?  Was  it  not  rather  the 
working  out  of  laws  and  penalties  which  concern 
all  times  and  all  peoples  ?  Was  it  persecution, — 
a  personal  intent  to  hurry  them,  to  punish  them 
at  that  point  in  their  history,  or  certain  timeless 
con-secutions,  consequences,  which  in  God's  world 
belong  to  the  violated  moral  order  ?  Both  ele- 
ments were  present,  personal  and  legal,  because 
God  is  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  laws.  God  and 
his  laws  work  together  and  any  nation  will  find 
as  did  the  Jews,  that  obedience  and  freedom,  dis- 
obedience and  captivity,  still  travel  together  in 
His  train.  If  we  are  to  be  glad  in  this  or  any 
world,  we  must  make  His  ways  our  ways,  and  His 
will  our  will,  "  whose  service  is  perfect  liberty." 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Acknowledging  Mistakes. 

It  is  hard  to  admit  that  we  are  wrong.  How 
easy  to  say,  "  The  woman,  the  serpent,  my  tem- 
perament, my  circumstances  ! M  Few  things  more 
surely  reveal  our  self-love  and  pride  than  this 
instinctive,  automatic  excuse-making.  We  thor- 
oughly understand  the  lawyer  who  asked  the  ques- 
tion, "And  who  is  my  neighbor?"  wishing  to 
"justify  himself."  There  is  little  hope  for  our 
growth  in  virtue,  unless  we  make  up  our  minds 
frankly  to  admit  the  truth  about  ourselves,  no 
matter  how  it  hurts.  No  man  can  afford  to  play 
ostrich.  Self-deception  is  seldom  genuine,  and 
conscious  duplicity  ruins.  "  We  can  do  nothing 
against  the  truth,  but  for  the  truth."  To  ac- 
knowledge our  mistakes  is  not  only  wise,  and 
marks  an  advance  in  self-knowledge,  but  it  means 
self-mastery,  spiritual  victory.  When  we  pull  up 
a  weed,  we  leave  a  clean  place  for  a  flower. 

Transmutation. 

Can  we  include  our  mistakes  and  sins  in  the 
"all  things  "  that  work  together  for  good  ?  Cer- 
tainly, if  we  belong  to  God,  if  love  and  loyalty 
to  Him  are  our  heart's  determination,  if  we  are 
purposed  to  press  toward  the  mark  of  His  high 
calling  in  Christ  Jesus.  The  pride  and  self- 
68 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAV    LIVING 

confidence  of  Peter  were  weakness,  and  were 
breaking  him  down  as  a  disciple,  but  when  he 
yielded  himself  to  the  spirit  of  Christ,  they  be- 
came self-knowledge,  self-distrust,  self-hatred,  and 
the  occasion  and  demands  for  divine  power.  The 
lives  of  St.  Augustine,  of  John  Newton,  of  Jerry 
McAuley,  prove  that  the  God  of  transmutation, 
who  taught  us  to  bring  brilliant  dyes,  healing 
remedies,  exquisite  perfumes,  from  waste  coal-tar, 
can  transform  the  character  that  is  put  in  his 
hands  and  make  a  repudiated  past  thrillingly  vital 
in  the  sympathy  and  pity,  fidelity  and  love,  of  a 
beautiful  and  fruitful  future. 

A  Message. 
If  a  telegraph  messenger  comes  to  your  door,  do 
you  shut  it  in  his  face,  or  run  away  ?  What  is 
the  use  ?  You  cannot  change  the  fact  of  the 
message  he  brings.  You  take  the  despatch  with 
a  steady  or  unsteady  hand,  and  read  it,  and  do 
what  seems  best.  So  should  we  treat  our  sorrows. 
They  are  messengers.  What  have  they  to  tell 
us  ?  There  is  no  use  in  running  away  or  in  get- 
ting angry.  Meet  them  frankly,  quietly,  bravely. 
Ask  them  what  word  they  have  for  you.  Say : 
"  So  you  have  come,  my  sorrow.  What  is  your 
errand  ?  What  message  do  you  bring  from  my 
Father  ?  What  new  lesson  does  He  wish  me  to 
69 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

learn  ?  "  Or  look  over  the  errand  boy's  shoulder, 
and  say  to  your  Heavenly  Father,  "  Speak,  Lord, 
for  thy  servant  heareth."  Not  to  do  this  is  to  be 
doubly  impoverished,  for  we  lose  our  happiness, 
and  then  lose  the  sorrow  too.  Let  us  not  frustrate 
the  grace  of  God,  who  would  even  by  our  woes 
lead  us  nearer  to  Himself. 


Disgrace  of  a  Joyless  Life. 

Many  men  fail  to  realize  that  joy  is  distinctly 
moral.  It  is  a  fruit  of  the  spiritual  life.  We 
have  no  more  right  to  pray  for  joy,  if  we  are  not 
doing  the  things  that  Jesus  said  would  bring  it, 
than  we  would  have  to  ask  interest  in  a  savings 
bank  in  which  we  had  never  deposited  money. 
Joy  does  not  happen.  It  is  a  flower  that  springs 
from  roots.  It  is  the  inevitable  result  of  certain 
lines  followed  and  laws  obeyed,  and  so  a  matter 
of  character.  Therefore,  we  cannot  say  that  joy 
is  like  a  fine  complexion,  a  distinct  addition  to 
the  charm  of  the  face,  which  yet  would  be  struct- 
urally perfect  without  this  charm.  Joy  is  a  feat- 
ure, and  the  face  that  does  not  have  it  is  disfig- 
ured. The  Christian  life  that  is  joyless  is  a  dis- 
credit to  God,  and  a  disgrace  to  itself.  "  These 
things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,"  said  Jesus,  "  that 
my  joy  might  remain  in  you,  and  that  your  joy 
70 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

might  be  full."  Study  these  words.  Believe  them. 
Attempt  them.  Steadily  accomplish  them,  and 
the  joy  of  the  Lord  will  enter  you  before  you 
hear  the  word,  "  Come,  ye  blessed,  enter  into  the 
joy  of  your  Lord." 


Business  vs.  Religion. 

Business  is  religion,  and  religion  is  business. 
The  man  who  does  not  make  a  business  of  his 
religion  has  a  religious  life  of  no  force,  and  the 
man  who  does  not  make  a  religion  of  his  business 
has  a  business  life  of  no  character.  The  circle  of 
business  activity  is  not  tangent  to  the  circle  of 
God's  service,  but  concentric,  a  little  circle  in  a 
great  one.  The  word :  "  Whatsoever  ye  do  in 
word  and  deed,  do  all  in  the  name  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,"  is  the  death  of  the  secular.  If  the  earth 
is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof,  and  the  body 
is  the  Lord's  and  the  spirit  thereof,  no  activity 
(sin  excluded)  can  be  profane,  that  is — "  outside 
the  shrine."  The  world  is  God's  workshop ;  the 
raw  materials  are  His ;  the  ideals  and  patterns 
are  His ;  our  hands  are  "  the  members  of 
Christ,"  our  reward  His  recognition.  Blacksmith 
or  banker,  draughtsman  or  doctor,  painter  or 
preacher,  servant  or  statesman,  must  work  as 
unto  the  Lord,  not  merely  making  a  living,  but 
71 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

devoting  a  life.  This  makes  life  sacramental, 
turning  its  water  into  wine.  This  is  twice 
blessed,  blessing  both  the  worker  and  the  work. 


Circumstances. 

There  is  more  cause  for  joy  than  for  complaint 
in  the  hard  and  disagreeable  circumstances  of  life. 
Browning  said,  "  I  count  life  just  a  stuff  to  try 
the  soul's  strength  on."  Spell  the  word  "dis- 
cipline "  with  a  final  g, — "  discipling."  We  are 
here  to  learn  Time's  lesson  for  Eternity's  business. 
What  does  it  signify  if  the  circumstances  about 
us  are  not  of  our  choice,  if  by  them  we  can  be 
trained,  learning  the  lessons  of  patience,  fortitude, 
perseverance,  self-denying  service,  acquiescence 
with  God's  will,  and  the  hearty  doing  of  it.  Cir- 
cumstances do  not  make  character.  The  noblest 
character  can  emerge  from  the  worst  surround- 
ings, and  moral  failures  come  out  of  the  best. 
Just  where  you  are,  take  the  things  of  life  as 
tools,  and  use  them  for  God's  glory ;  so  you  will 
help  the  kingdom  come,  and  the  Master  will  use 
the  things  of  life  in  cutting  and  polishing  you  so 
that  there  shall  some  day  be  seen  in  you  a  soul 
conformed  to  his  likeness. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Kinship  in  Kindness. 
Kindness  is  recognizing  another's  kinship.  It 
is  first  kinned-ness  to  our  own,  and  then  kinned- 
ness  to  everyone.  When  we  recognize  God's  rela- 
tion to  us,  we  all  become  relatives,  and  must  be 
kindred  to  each  other,  even  as  God  in  Christ  is  re- 
vealed kinned  to  us.  The  kind  man  does  not  say 
merely  what  he  feels  like  saying ;  that  would  be 
adaptation  to  his  own  moods,  and  only  self-love. 
He  says  what  he  thinks  another  needs  to  hear. 
Kindness  relates  you  not  to  your  own  mood,  but 
to  the  mood  of  the  other  man.  To  say  a  pleasant 
thing  because  you  feel  pleasant  may  be  an  acci- 
dental kindness,  for  it  may  meet  another's  need, 
but,  though  good,  it  is  not  highly  virtuous.  Genu- 
ine kindness  oftenest  comes  from  self-repression, — 
a  cheerful  message  from  a  sad  soul,  a  brave  word 
from  a  trembling  heart,  a  generous  gift  from  a 
slender  purse,  a  helping  hand  from  a  tired  man. 
It  is  not  your  mood,  but  the  other  man's  neect 
that  determines  kindness. 


The  Ethics  of  Perfection. 
Perfection  is  not  so  much  reaching,  as  "  reach- 
ing  forth."     It  is  an  attitude  more  than  an  attain- 
ment.,    Its  hope  is  attainment,  but  its  heart  is 
intention.     Attempt  to-day  and  accomplish ;  but, 
73 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

succeed  or  fail,  to-day  or  to-morrow,  still  attempt. 
You  may  not  accomplish  your  purpose,  but  you 
are  a  more  accomplished  man  for  the  attempt, 
and  that  was  God's  purpose.  To  do  your  best 
every  day  betters  your  best.  That  is  the  perfect- 
ing God  seeks. 

The  child's  patchwork  blocks  may  be  "  over  and 
overed"  with  stitches  that  call  up  a  rail  fence, 
and  show  no  lack  of  honest  soil ;  but,  if  the  block 
to-day  is  bounded  by  a  steadier  fence  than  yester- 
day's, and  knows  a  little  "more  freedom  from  earth 
stains,"  then  perfection  is  in  the  air :  Per-ficiency 
is  the  root  of  proficiency.  Goodness  and  faithful- 
ness are  the  hands  and  feet  of  attainment,  for 
perfection  in  God's  sight  is  not  the  opposite  of 
defects,  but  of  defection. 

The  Inevitable. 
To  face  the  inevitable  is  to  confront  something 
sacred.  As  long  as  anything  is  uncertain,  the 
roads  are  open  in  more  than  one  direction,  and 
right  and  wrong  may  have  many  aspects.  But 
let  the  issue  be  determined,  let  the  die  be  cast, 
and  acceptance  and  adjustment  become  our  im- 
mediate duty.  Until  God's  will  is  known,  we 
may  work  and  wrestle  and  pray  to  carry  our 
point,  to  save  the  day,  to  win  the  prize,  spurred 
only  the  more  by  the  uncertainty  of  the  result. 
74 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

But  let  the  result  be  known,  however  dark  and 
disappointing,  and  we  should  view  it  in  the  light 
of  God's  plan  to  make  us  his  evident  children, 
and  ask  what  we  are  to  learn,  what  next  we  are 
to  do.  Chafing,  fretting  and  complaining  are 
more  than  a  waste  of  time  and  energy.  End  that 
episode  with  an  amen.  Refer  the  inevitable  to 
God,  and  face  the  future,  not  only  with  knowl- 
edge born  of  new  experience,  but  with  the  courage 
born  of  the  faith,  that  God's  will  is  always  best, 
and  sooner  or  later  will  seem  best  to  us. 

Normal  and  Abnormal. 

There  is  no  virtue  in  being  miserable.  Things 
are  not  necessarily  our  duty  because  they  are  dis- 
agreeable. Religion  ought  not  to  wear  mourning 
nor  should  spirituality  be  depressing. 

If  Christ  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the 
devil,  root  and  shoot,  flower  and  fruit,  are  we  to 
perpetuate  or  sanctify  any  of  them  ?  No ;  we 
are  to  protest,  repudiate,  eradicate.  Learn  any 
lesson  of  fortitude  or  patience  during  the  struggle, 
but  push  on  to  wholeness. 

Stump-pulling  can  develop  muscle,  but  who 
would  praise  or  preserve  the  stumps  in  a  field 
as  a  home  gymnasium  ?  Crops  are  what  we  want. 
Joy,  soundness,  power,  are  normal.  We  are  to 
u  worship  the  Lord  in  the  beauty  of  holiness  w — 
75 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

wholeness.  Pain  and  sickness,  shadows  and  sor- 
rows, are  meant  to  flee  away.  Let  us  hurry  them 
all  we  can  by  hastening  His  coming,  who  is  our 
life  and  light,  the  health  of  our  countenance,  and 
our  God. 

Living  Down  Consequences. 
The  natural  consequences  of  sin  or  the  conse- 
quences of  an  unnatural  life  are  not  obliterated 
by  God's  forgiveness.  The  world  in  which  we 
live  is  planned  as  an  immense  demonstration  of 
the  value  of  virtue  and  the  folly  and  danger  of 
vice.  The  results  of  sin,  the  scars  of  fire,  the 
consequences  of  dishonesty,  impurity,  intemper- 
ance, unkindness,  survive  the  moment  of  forgive- 
ness, and  breed  their  brood, — how  long,  who 
shall  say  ?  But  forgiveness,  which  is  a  changed 
relation  to  God,  begins  a  changed  relation  to  his 
law.  We  start  afresh  with  Him,  loved,  regarded 
as  though  nothing  had  happened,  and  a  new  set 
of  consequences  begins.  The  new  life  which  God 
gives  fights  the  consequences  of  the  old.  Weeds 
are  pulled  up,  and  stop  seeding  themselves. 
Broken  relations  are  repaired,  old  debts  paid,  and 
wrongs  righted.  Moral  degeneration  is  arrested. 
The  demonstration  of  God's  law  is  made  on  the 
side  of  obedience,  through  good,  instead  of  bad, 
consequences. 

76 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

— — '  " "  *       ■     ■*  ■ ■  ■ '        '        i  ■ 

Alienating  Power  of  Sin. 
Sin  brings  separation  from  God.  The  word 
"  depart "  uttered  to  the  workers  of  iniquity  is 
not  an  arbitrary  one.  It  voices  a  law  of  God 
that  runs  through  all  his  moral  realm.  Sin 
pushes  the  prodigal  away  from  his  home  and 
friends,  his  property,  his  pleasures,  his  reputation, 
his  character,  even  his  clothes  and  his  food.  The 
law  of  the  word  "  depart "  has  driven  him  away 
from  everything  that  was  beautiful  and  of  good 
report.  Behold  him  in  his  rags  and  loneliness — 
feeding  swine.  Think  it  not  strange,  if  that  man 
is  driven  from  God  and  goodness  who  yields  him- 
self to  sin.  By  a  changeless  law  of  moral  repul- 
sion, he  is  pushed  away.  Is  it  hopeless  ?  Yes,  as 
long  as  his  back  is  turned  toward  God.  But  let 
him  "  come  to  himself,'"  let  him  feel  his  sin  and 
degradation,  let  him  long  for  home,  for  forgive- 
ness, for  his  Father's  face,  and  the  law  of  change- 
less love  takes  hold  of  him.  The  law  of  divine 
attraction  draws  him  then  to  God  and  goodness. 

Providence. 

The  word  "  providential "  should  be  associated 

more  in  its  interpretation  with  the  world  of  grace 

than  the  world  of  law.     We  are  in  a  world  of 

laws,  God's   laws,  living   between   the   two   old 

77 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

mountains,  Ebal  and  Gerizim.  Obedience  and 
blessing  go  hand  in  hand.  Disobedience  and 
trouble  are  indissolubly  linked.  We  must  not 
interpret  providences  so  that  the  consequences  of 
our  mistakes  and  sins  are  thought  of  as  original 
choices  of  God,  then  and  there ;  that  death,  for 
example,  from  pneumonia,  is  a  "mysterious  dis- 
pensation of  providence."  It  is  not  to  be  thought 
that  God  is  constantly  interfering  with  the  proc- 
esses of  law.  But  this  is  to  be  thought,  and  is 
blessedly  true,  that  this  is  God's  world  and  our 
school-house,  our  training  ground  ;  that  all  things 
are  providential  in  the  sense  that  they  are  in  the 
scope  of  God's  immediate  knowledge — from  the 
fall  of  a  sparrow  to  the  tower  of  Siloam ;  and, 
best  of  all,  that  all  things  can  become  "  means  of 
grace  "  and  lead  us  toward  God-likeness. 

Joy  in  All  Things. 

"  Joy  "  is  a  larger  word  than  "  happiness  *  or 
"  amusement "  or  "  diversion.'1  It  includes  all  of 
these,  but  much  else,  —  trials,  tests  and  tasks. 
Happiness  is  a  thing  of  happenings.  Amusement 
is  turning  aside  to  muse,  or  cultivating  the  Muses 
after  work.  Diversion  is  being  put  on  another 
track  for  a  little  while.  But  joy  belongs  to  all 
that  happens,  and  to  work  as  well  as  to  amuse- 
ment or  diversion.  It  is  like  a  good  appetite  and 
73 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

a  good  stomach,  it  likes  and  digests  everything. 
Everything  is  kindling  for  its  fire,  wheat  for  its 
barns,  fish  for  its  net.  It  finds  in  work  co-opera- 
tion with  God,  however  lowly  or  monotonous  the 
task.  It  suffers  and  endures  for  that  which  is  to 
be  when  the  work  is  done,  when  the  iron  becomes 
steel,  and  rough  marble  a  thing  of  beauty.  In 
temptation,  it  finds  the  warrior's  delight ;  in  vic- 
tory and  in  defeat,  if  an  honorable  one,  the  com- 
fort of  knowing  that  God  understands  every  cam- 
paign ;  if  a  dishonorable  one,  the  sad  but  hopeful 
joy  of  honest  repentance  and  a  new  determina- 
tion. 

Over-Sensitiveness. 
Hyper-Sensitiveness  may  come  from  overwork 
or  illness,  or  from  plain  selfishness.  To  be  easily 
annoyed  is  to  be  sick  or  selfish.  When  we  are 
played  out  or  worked  out,  our  nerves  are  worn  to 
the  quick,  and  writhe  at  the  touch  of  trifles. 
Then — rest  for  our  lives.  We  cannot  afford  not 
to.  But  there  is  an  irritability  that  is  not  physi- 
cal. It  is  moral  —  or  immoral.  It  comes  from 
being  self-centred.  We  live,  but  will  not  let  live. 
We  want  our  way  any  way.  If  we  are  inter- 
rupted, we  are  visibly  annoyed.  Interference, 
corrections,  suggestions,  light  our  fire-crackers, 
and  we  explode.  Other  people's  pleasures  and 
79 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

pains,  their  children,  cats  and  dogs  and  canary 
birds,  are  impertinences.  Why?  Because  they 
do  not  pertain  to  us.  This  is  plain  selfishness. 
Let  us  beware.  It  is  the  spirit,  the  essence  of 
evil.  Let  us  go  to  the  cross  of  Jesus  and  learn 
to  love.  We  shall  always  be  in  relations  in  the 
world.  Let  us  make  them  loving  relations.  Let 
us  look  out  for  hyper-sensitiveness.  It  means 
peril  for  body  and  soul. 

The  Test  of  Possessions. 

The  young  ruler  went  away  sorrowful,  "  for  he 
had  great  possessions."  Yes ;  but  he  went  away 
sorrowful  because  he  did  not  possess  them — they 
possessed  him.  Jesus  did  not  ask  all  rich  men  to 
give  up  their  riches.  The  test  that  he  put  upon 
this  one  was  to  open  his  eyes  that  he  might  see 
that  God  was  not  supreme  in  his  life.  He  thought 
and  went  away,  how  unhappy  !  He  had  thought 
he  was  within  a  step  of  perfection,  for  he  had 
been  keeping  all  the  commandments.  Had  he 
kept  them  because  God  was  first  in  his  life  ? 
Gold,  not  God,  mastered  him.  But  he  may  have 
been  a  conqueror  finally.  He  did  not  know  Je- 
sus then  as  he  may  have  known  him  later  at  Cal- 
vary. After  Pentecost,  many  who  had  lands  sold 
them,  and  laid  the  price  at  the  Apostles1  feet. 
"  And  you  must  love  him  ere  to  you  he  will  seem 
80 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

worthy  of  your  love."  And  you  must  know  him 
and  be  helped  by  his  spirit  ere  you  can  make  the 
supreme  renunciation.  When  you  know  Jesus 
better,  as  you  can  if  you  wish,  you  will  be  able  to 
do  anything  he  asks  you  to  do.  "  I  can  do  all 
things  through  Christ,  which  strengtheneth  me." 
It  is  Jesus  who  can  make  us  live,  having  all  things 
and  yet  possessing  nothing — pleasing  him  first 
and  always,  with  or  without  great  possessions. 

That  Which  Cannot  be  Taken  Away. 

When  the  soldiers  cast  lots  for  Jesus's  garments, 
why  did  they  not  do  so  for  his  goodness  and  wis- 
dom and  gentleness  ?  Because  such  things  are 
not  detachable,  nor  transferable.  His  garment 
was  a  thing  material,  made  by  hand.  It  could 
be  taken  away  and  destroyed  by  hand.  The 
character  of  Jesus  was  not  a  thing.  It  was 
spiritual,  woven  of  ideas,  choices,  emotions,  vic- 
tories. It  was  vital,  not  material ;  it  was  spirit- 
ual, indestructible.  Men  took  everything  that 
Jesus  had,  his  liberty,  his  legal  rights,  his  physi- 
cal beauty,  his  reputation,  his  life, — but  they 
could  not  take  away  what  he  was.  Even  on  the 
cross  he  proved  his  infinite  love  in  the  thought 
for  his  mother,  in  opening  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
to  that  first  believer,  in  praying  for  the  men  who 
crucified  him.  Without  power  or  friends  or 
Si 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

money,  or  even  a  garment,  the  centurion  cried 
out,  "  Truly  this  man  is  the  Son  of  God  ! "  So 
the  real  values  of  life  are  internal,  not  exter- 
nal ;  and  what  counts  with  God — and  sooner  or 
later  with  men — is,  not  what  a  man  has,  but 
what  he  is. 


God's  Answer. 

Let  us  not  forget  the  emphasis  and  miss  the 
comfort  of  the  words  "  know  how  "  in  the  verse  : 
"  If  ye  then,  being  evil,  know  how  to  give  good 
gifts  unto  your  children."  Are  the  honest,  ear- 
nest prayers  of  God's  children  always  heard  ? 
Always.  Are  they  always  answered  ?  Always. 
In  the  way  we  expect  ?  Not  always.  If  a  hun- 
gry child  asks  for  a  scorpion,  will  his  father  give 
him  a  scorpion  ?  Not  if  he  knows  how  to  give 
his  children  good  things  to  eat.  If  he  is  asked 
for  a  stone,  for  "  that  which  is  not  bread,"  by  a 
child  driven  by  hunger,  but  deceived  by  appear- 
ances, will  he  mistake  the  child's  inner  need  and 
real  meaning  ? 

Because  our  Heavenly  Father  knows  how  to 
give  good  gifts,  we  may  ask  with  perfect  confi- 
dence for  what  we  want.  He  will  give  what  is 
best.  We  often  know  how  to  ask  more  intelli- 
gently the  next  time  because  of  the  answer  we  get. 
82 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

The  promise  is  kept,  and  we  have  learned  some- 
thing new  about  God's  purposes  and  resources. 

Fitness. 

When  James  and  John  asked  Jesus  for  the 
best  places  in  his  kingdom,  they  were  told  in  his 
gentle,  gracious  way  that  the  main  point  was  not 
wanting  the  best  places  but  being  worth  them. 
It  is  a  question  of  preparation — "For  whom 
they  are  prepared  "  is  only  another  way  of  saying 
for  those  who  are  prepared. 

We  are  so  used  to  favoritism  in  public  life 
that  we  turn  every  way  for  enough  influence  to 
get  ourselves  appointed.  But  perfect  govern- 
ments are  officered,  not  by  official  favorites,  but 
by  qualified  men.  "  God  is  no  respecter  of  per- 
sons." He  does  not  look  twice  at  a  man's  peti- 
tion and  signatures.  It  is  wholly  a  question  of 
personal  fitness.  Let  us  put  the  emphasis  of  our 
life,  then,  in  the  right  place.  It  is  not  wanting 
something,  but  being  worth  something.  God 
has  plenty  of  time  in  which  to  make  discoveries, 
but  we  have  none  too  much  time  in  which  to 
become  worth  discovering.  We  should  care,  not 
so  much  about  being  recognized  as  about  being 
worth  recognition.  The  real  values  of  life  are 
spiritual  and  eternal,  and  the  fit  man  will  some 
day  succeed  the  favorite. 
83 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

The  Abundant  Life. 

Christ  said,  "  I  am  come  that  ye  might  have 
life."  Life  is  back  of  love,  back  of  believing, 
back  of  hoping,  back  of  everything.  Ezekiel  in 
his  vision  of  the  "  River  of  Life,"  understood 
life ;  he  knew  what  it  meant  —  at  first  a  little 
stream  to  the  ankles,  then,  as  he  went  further  on, 
it  came  to  the  knees,  and  then  to  the  loins,  and 
finally  a  wide,  mighty  river.  That  is  life.  Do 
you  know  what  life  is  ?  No ;  neither  does  any- 
body else.  Life  is  indefinable ;  life  is  an  ulti- 
mate ;  life  is  God ;  life  is  effectiveness ;  life  is 
power.  Adjustment  to  the  things  around  you 
— correspondence  to  environment — that  is  life. 
The  plodding  man  does  not  live.  He  goes  out 
in  the  morning  and  hears  the  birds,  the  heralds 
of  the  spring,  sweetly  singing  in  the  trees.  The 
flowers  are  blooming  in  the  fields,  the  whole 
world  is  full  of  music,  it  is  everywhere ;  but  the 
sweet  primrose  growing  on  the  bank  does  not  for 
him  contain  life  and  beauty  and  music  —  it 
remains  a  primrose  still.  Life  is  measured  by 
the  number  of  things  you  are  alive  to.  The  ful- 
ness of  our  life  means  what  we  are  about  to  do. 
I  must  have  a  life  that  is  more  abundant  than 
my  own  poor  nature.  I  must  take  the  power  of 
Jesus  and  have  inside  fellowship  with  him. 

84 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

"Rejoice  Evermore. 
Joy  is  an  instinct  as  well  as  a  duty.  Nature 
enjoys  her  struggles ;  all  her  ways  of  conflict, 
work,  and  rest  betray  a  spirit  of  alacrity,  of  glad- 
ness. "In  reason's  ear  they  all  rejoice."  Nature 
groans  and  travails,  but  rejoices  as  a  strong  man 
to  run  a  race,  struggling  toward  her  highest  and 
best.  Paul  tells  us  to  rejoice,  and  we  know  we 
ought  to,  and  want  to,  but  it  seems  a  challenge 
to  powerlessness.  There  is  too  much  to  make  us 
miserable.  But  when  he  tells  us  to  rejoice  in  the 
Lord,  he  gives  us  a  new  idea.  Hope  comes  to 
the  rescue, — and  hope  is  not  a  fancy,  but  a  proph- 
ecy, a  force,  with  power  for  its  own  realization. 
An  artist  may  be  depressed  as  he  sees  how  poorly 
he  embodies  his  vision,  but  there  is  an  unspeak- 
able joy  in  the  work ;  he  glories  in  his  dream. 
A  musician  with  his  heart  full  of  inaudible  har- 
mony is  beaten  down  with  disappointment  at  his 
failure  to  give  voice  to  his  conceptions,  but  he 
knows,  as  he  strives,  the  joy  of  the  hope  set 
before  him.  So,  however  much  there  is  about 
me  and  in  me  to  provoke  despair,  when  I  look  to 
Jesus  and  see  God's  thought  of  me,  see  what  He 
means  me  to  be,  and  what  I  mean  to  be,  I  cannot 
but  rejoice  in  hope  of  the  glory  of  God. 


85 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Stewardship. 
Property  is  a  divine  trust.  Things  are  tools, 
not  prizes.  Life  is  not  for  self-indulgence,  but 
for  self-devotion.  When,  instead  of  saying, 
"  The  world  owes  me  a  living,"  men  shall  say,  "  I 
owe  the  world  a  life,"  then  the  kingdom  will 
come  in  power.  We  owe  everything  to  God  but 
our  sins.  Fatherland,  pedigree,  home-life,  school- 
ing, Christian  training,  —  all  are  God's  gifts. 
Every  member  of  the  body  or  faculty  of  mind  is 
ours  providentially.  There  is  no  accomplishment 
in  our  lives  that  is  not  rooted  in  opportunities 
and  powers  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  in  achiev- 
ing. "What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not 
receive  ?  "  If  God  gives  us  the  possibilities  and 
the  power  to  get  wealth,  to  acquire  influence,  to 
be  forces  in  the  world,  what  is  the  true  concep- 
tion of  life  but  divine  ownership  and  human 
administration  ?  "Of  Thine  own  we  render 
Thee."  All  there  is  of  "  me  "  is  God's  estate,  and 
I  am  his  tenant  and  agent.  On  the  day  of  our 
birth  a  new  lease  is  signed.  On  the  day  of 
our  death,  accounts  are  closed.  Our  fidelity  is  the 
interest  on  God's  principal.  "That  I  may  re- 
ceive mine  own  with  interest,"  is  the  divine  inten- 
tion. So  live,  that  when  thy  summons  comes  to 
give  an  account  of  thy  stewardship,  it  may  be 
done  with  joy,  and  not  with  grief! 
86 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

Discouragement. 
Disappointing  facts  do  not  warrant  discourag- 
ing conclusions.  It  is  not  likely  that  Caleb  and 
Joshua  were  delightfully  exhilarated  by  the  sight 
of  the  giants  and  the  walled  cities,  any  more  than 
the  ten  other  spies  were.  The  giants  were  actu- 
ally no  bigger,  and  the  walls  actually  no  higher 
to  the  ten  than  to  the  two.  The  facts  were  the 
same,  but  Caleb  and  Joshua  concluded  differently. 
Why  ?  Because  they  included  differently.  The 
ten  faced  the  situation  by  themselves,  the  two 
faced  it  with  God.  The  ten  judged  God  in  sight 
of  their  difficulties,  and  said,  "  It  cannot  be  done.1' 
The  two  judged  the  difficulties  in  the  sight  of 
God  and  said,  "  We  are  well  able."  If,  in  the 
bright  lexicon  of  youth,  there  is  no  such  word  as 
fail,  so,  in  the  records  of  our  lives  as  Christians 
who  trust  in  the  living  God,  there  never  should 
be  written,  "And  they  brought  back  a  dis- 
couraging report."  Let  the  odds  be  against  us, 
and  obstacles  seem  insurmountable,  we  have  but 
to  include  the  Almighty  in  faith,  and  ourselves 
in  fidelity,  and  let  God  draw  conclusions.  "  He 
shall  not  fail,  nor  be  discouraged,"  is  the  divine 
intention  concerning  every  soul,  trustful  and 
true. 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Worth  Believing. 

Words  carry  little  weight  without  a  life  back 
of  them.  What  would  have  been  the  use  of 
Andrew's  saying  to  his  brother  Simon,  "  We  have 
found  the  Christ,"  if  Andrew  had  not  been  a  man 
whose  life  was  evidently  and  unmistakably  bent 
toward  good  ?  Peter  believed  in  Christ  because 
he  believed  in  Andrew.  Was  Andrew  thought- 
less ?  Far  from  it.  But  there  was  a  trend  in  his 
life,  an  evident  determination  to  know  and  be  the 
best,  which  made  it  likely  that  what  he  found 
was  worth  finding,  and  what  he  said  worth  be- 
lieving. If  Andrew's  temper  had  blazed  and  no 
apology  followed  ;  if  he  had  been  selfish  and  com- 
plaining, with  no  evidence  of  shame  and  struggle  ; 
if  the  whole  emphasis  of  his  life  had  been  on 
things,  eating,  drinking,  dressing,  visiting,  play- 
ing, gossiping,  what  likelihood  of  Peter's  paying 
attention  to  his  words  ?  But  Andrew  hungered 
and  thirsted  for  righteousness.  He  heard  of  John 
the  Baptist,  and  followed  him.  He  heard  of  a 
greater  than  John,  and  found  in  him  the  Promised 
One.  Andrew's  life  turned  toward  God,  and  so 
his  words  had  power.  Does  your  brother  believe  you 
when  you  say  anything  about  Jesus  Christ  ?  If  he 
does,  it  is  because  you  are  evidently  his  follower. 
Only  by  the  force  of  his  life  can  a  man  say,  "  You 
believe  in  me,  believe  therefore  in  Jesus  Christ." 
88 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Friendship  and  Right. 
Many  a  sin  is  committed  that  friendship  is 
expected  to  justify.  It  is  not  exactly  what  we 
would  have  done  if  we  had  been  left  to  ourselves 
to  decide,  but,  under  the  circumstances,  we  could 
not  see  what  else  to  do.  Rather  than  to  be  dis- 
obliging, rather  than  to  be  thought  puritanical  or 
"righteous  over  much,1,  we  yield,  waive  the  obli- 
gation to  conscience  in  favor  of  the  desire  to 
oblige  a  friend,  and  charge  the  debt  of  conscience 
to  the  score  of  kind  feeling.  But  it  is  at  bottom 
a  question  of  allegiance.  The  Master  asks  an  un- 
divided heart,  and  we  have  no  right  to  betray  him 
in  the  home  of  our  friends.  To  hate  father  and 
mother  and  friends  for  his  sake  is  ethical,  not 
emotional.  It  is  a  question  of  loyalty.  To 
please  them  would  we  displease  him  ?  If  so,  we 
are  not  his  followers,  but  theirs.  No  man  can 
obey  two  masters.  Solomon's  building  a  heathen 
shrine  to  oblige  a  heathen  wife  was  heathenism 
pure  and  simple,  idolatry,  root  and  branch.  To 
neglect  a  duty,  to  compromise  a  principle,  to  pull 
down  colors,  to  do  a  little  wrong  rather  than  be 
thought  a  religious  prig,  bigoted,  or,  at  least, 
peculiar,  is  a  great  temptation  ;  but  then  is  the 
time  for  the  uncompromising,  "the  everlasting 
No ! "  to  ring  from  us,  and  firm  loyalty  to  God 
to  be  seen  without.  Friendship  that  calls  for 
89 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

disloyalty  to  God   needs    destruction    or   recon- 
struction. 

Doing  and  Discovering. 

Obedience  does  not  stop  for  mystery,  but,  going 
on,  sees  twilight  brighten  into  day.  How  can 
wheat  and  corn  become  energy  to  think,  and  love, 
and  work  ?  Who  can  tell,  but  who  can  doubt  ? 
When  we  obey  God's  laws,  it  is  as  if  an  angel 
troubled  the  water,  and  instantly  life  and  power 
emerge.  Loyalty  discovers.  It  is  not  merely  the 
illumination,  but  the  transfiguration  of  life ;  a 
brave  departure,  and  then  a  discovery ;  "  West- 
ward-ho,"  and  then  a  new  world. 

At  the  point  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  a  man 
becomes  a  new  creature ;  it  is  another  birth  from 
above.  It  is  inexplicable,  but  it  is  indubitable. 
The  memorials  on  the  table  of  the  Lord  are  the 
simplest, — bread  that  perisheth,  a  cup  that  pass- 
eth ;  yet  to  the  trusting  heart,  in  the  obedient 
hand,  they  become  the  food  of  the  soul,  the  energy 
of  divine  life.  The  promise  of  the  Father  awaits 
our  claiming.  We  take  Him  at  His  word,  and 
the  epoch  of  power  dawns  for  a  "  Spirit-filled 
life."  We  know  not  how  it  is,  but  we  know  that 
it  is.  Let  faith  that  trusts,  and  loyalty  that 
obeys,  stop  at  no  mystery,  but  ever  follow  on  to 
know  the  Lord,  and  we  shall  see  that  much  which 
90 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

is  past  finding  out  is  not  past  following  out ;  that 
a  new  earth  of  obedience  will  mean  a  new  heaven 
of  experience. 

Why  Complain? 

There  are,  after  all,  but  two  explanations  of 
human  life, — Father  and  Fate,  and  there  is  only 
the  difference  of  two  letters  there.  All  philoso- 
phies come  in  the  day  of  trouble  to  this  alterna- 
tive. If  there  is  no  loving  Father,  why  should 
we  complain  ?  We  might  as  well  save  our  breath. 
Let  us  be  sensible.  There  is  no  use  beating  our 
sore  heads  against  stone  walls.  "  What  are  you 
going  to  do  about  it  ? "  is  a  question  the  unbe- 
liever may  well  ask  himself.  If  you  cannot  be  a 
Christian,  be  a  Stoic ;  if  you  cannot  live  in  Jeru- 
salem, live  in  Sparta.     To  rebel  is  useless. 

In  our  Father's  school  are  many  benches.  This 
life  is  school-time.  Whatever  the  word  God 
writes  on  the  top  of  your  page, — Patience,  Cour- 
age, Forgiveness,  Resignation, — copy  it  over  and 
over  till  He  gives  you  another  word.  Never  mur- 
mur. Do  your  best  to  solve  your  problems.  If 
they  are  hard,  try  hard.  If  you  are  in  the  dark, 
say :  "  Speak  Lord,  for  thy  servant  heareth." 
When  you  feel  like  complaining,  listen.  Be  still 
before  God.  David  said,  "  I  was  dumb,  I  opened 
not  my  mouth  ;  because  thou  didst  it."  That  is 
91 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

■■  — — — « 

better  than  moaning  and  lamenting  ;  but  let  us 
leap  from  David  to  Jesus,  and  say,  "The  cup 
which  my  Father  hath  given  me,  shall  I  not  drink 
it  ?  "  "  Father,  glorify  thy  name."  So  shall  we 
be  made  perfect  through  suffering,  and  the  trial 
of  our  faith  be  found  to  praise  and  honor  and 
glory  at  the  appearing  of  Jesus  Christ  in  us  now, 
and  in  the  day  of  triumph  by  and  by. 

The  Beatitude  of  Endurance. 

u  Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth  temptation, 
for  when  he  is  tried  he  shall  receive  the  crown  of 
life,  which  the  Lord  hath  promised  to  them  that 
love  him.""  It  is  a  verse  of  climbing  power.  It 
begins  with  man,  it  ends  with  God.  It  begins 
with  earth,  it  ends  with  heaven.  It  begins  with 
struggle,  it  ends  with  a  crown. 

Not,  Blessed  is  the  man  who  is  never  tempted. 
That  would  mean  to  be  out  of  the  world.  The 
Lord  wants  us  to  be  in  the  world,  though  not  of 
it.  Ignorance  is  not  strength,  innocence  is  not 
virtue. 

Not,  Blessed  is  the  man  who  seeks  temptation. 
"Lead  us  not  into  temptation."  Unnecessary 
risk  is  fool -hardiness,  not  courage.  Sufficient 
unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof.  Enough  tempt- 
ing will  come  without  our  seeking  it. 

Not,  Cursed  is  the  man  who  is  tempted.  Temp- 
92 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

tation  cannot  make  us  sinful.  Our  consent  alone 
can.  A  note  does  not  bind,  until  we  endorse  it. 
It  is  not  feeling  the  temptation,  but  yielding,  that 
is  sinful. 

Blessed  is  the  man  that  endureth,  stands  up 
under  it,  resists,  conquers.  "  Blessed9"  for  it 
means  new  wisdom,  new  strength,  new  joy, — 
"  the  crown  of  life.'" 

Common  Days. 

One  of  the  chief  dangers  of  life  is  trusting  oc- 
casions. We  think  that  conspicuous  events,  strik- 
ing experiences,  exalted  moments  have  most  to  do 
with  our  character  and  capacity.  We  are  wrong. 
Common  days,  monotonous  hours,  wearisome 
paths,  plain  old  tools,  and  every-day  clothes  tell 
the  real  story.  Good  habits  are  not  made  on 
birthdays,  nor  Christian  character  at  the  new 
year.  The  vision  may  dawn,  the  dream  may 
waken,  the  heart  may  leap  with  a  new  inspiration 
on  some  mountain-top,  but  the  test,  the  triumph, 
is  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  on  the  level  plain. 

The  workshop  of  character  is  every-day  life. 
The  uneventful  and  commonplace  hour  is  where 
the  battle  is  won  or  lost.  Thank  God  for  a  new 
truth,  a  beautiful  idea,  a  glowing  experience  ; 
but  remember  that  unless  we  bring  it  down  to 
the  ground  and  teach  it  to  walk  with  feet,  work 
93 


THOUGHTS  FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

with  hands,  and  stand  the  strain  of  daily  life,  we 
have  worse  than  lost  it,  we  have  been  hurt  by  it. 
A  new  light  in  our  heart  makes  an  occasion  ;  but 
an  occasion  is  an  opportunity,  not  for  building  a 
tabernacle  and  feeling  thankful  and  looking  back 
to  a  blessed  memory,  but  for  shedding  the  new 
light  on  the  old  path,  and  doing  old  duties  with 
new  inspiration.  The  uncommon  life  is  the  child 
of  the  common  day,  lived  in  an  uncommon  way. 

Success. 

Salvation  is  the  only  real  success.  Men  are 
called  successful  who  succeed  in  a  section  or  two. 
What  if  three  air-tight  compartments  keep  dry, 
when  the  bulkheads  break  and  the  ship  sinks  ? 
What  if  a  man  wins  a  boat  race,  a  horse  race,  a 
lottery  prize,  and  cannot  speak  grammatically, 
and  does  not  know  one  good  book  nor  one  star 
nor  tune  nor  flower  from  another,  nor  ever  had  a 
real  friend  ?     Is  that  success  ? 

Salvation  is  soundness.  To  have  a  splendid 
digestion,  but  a  feeble  mind  ;  to  have  muscles 
standing  out  like  whip-cords,  but  lungs  that  are 
affected ;  to  have  perfect  sight  and  hearing,  but  a 
weak  heart,  is  this  success  ?  Is  this  soundness  ? 
Salvation  is  health,  wholeness,  holiness.  It  is  to 
be  right  all  round.  I  may  miss  perfect  success  in 
the  world  of  business  and  in  the  world  of  health ; 
94 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

— 

I  need  not  in  the  real  world — the  moral, — in 
the  real  life — the  spiritual.  God's  holiness  is 
expressed  in  his  love.  Therefore  love  is  whole- 
ness, and  to  love  is  to  fulfil — to  fill  full — God's 
law,  and  be  right  all  round.  Learn  then  to  love 
God  and  your  brother  and  all  things  great  and 
small.  Life  is  our  "chance  of  learning  love.'" 
To  make  money,  to  win  academic  degrees,  to  lead 
political  armies,  and  not  to  love  up  and  down, 
right  and  left,  is  to  have  missed  success.  Men 
suspect  it  now.     They  will  know  it  by  and  by. 

Blessedness  of  Eternal  Service. 

How  much  we  have  to  thank  our  Saviour  for, 
in  what  he  told  us  about  our  future  life !  We 
often  wonder  that  he  did  not  say  more.  But  the 
words,  "  If  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told 
you,"  are  a  sufficient  answer  to  any  feeling  of 
insufficiency.  Whenever  our  minds  range  up  and 
down  the  words,  "Well  done,  thou  good  and 
faithful  servant — enter  thou  into  the  joy  of  thy 
Lord,"  we  may  find  comfort  of  the  most  substan- 
tial order.  In  the  words,  "  Well  done,  good  and 
faithful  servant "  we  discover  that  character  and 
capacity — what  we  are  and  what  we  can  do — 
are  coins  that  ring  true  on  both  counters,  are 
characteristics  of  the  eternal  life,  which  is  ours  to 
live  in  all  the  worlds.  Let  busy  men  and  women 
95 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

who  sometimes  recoil  from  those  descriptions  of 
heaven  in  books  and  poems  and  sermons  that 
dwell  too  exclusively  on  psalms  and  harps  and 
music  and  rest  and  peace,  rejoice  that  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  are  so  full  of  service  and  activity. 
"My  Father  worketh  hitherto,  and  I  work,"  is 
the  enfranchisement  and  ennoblement  of  labor. 
How  often  from  the  lips  of  Jesus  fall  the  words, 
"husbandman,"  "vineyard,"  "laborer,"  "mas- 
ter," "servant,"  "ruler,"  "talents,"  "pounds," 
"steward,"  "interest,"  "wages"!  However 
lonely  and  obscure  and  seemingly  unimportant 
our  life-work  may  be,  let  us  remember  that  it  is 
only  our  novitiate,  our  apprenticeship,  and  that 
to  be  good  and  faithful  in  a  few  things,  even  in 
that  which  is  least, — is  to  make  as  good  a  begin- 
ning as  God  asks  of  any  one,  and  will  be  as  cer- 
tain of  recognition  in  the  day  of  account  as 
though  we  were  kings  or  princes. 

Battlement-Building. 

"  Prophylaxis  "  may  be  a  technical  term,  but  it 
stands  for  practical  truth.  To  guard  against 
perils  is  better  than  subsequent  attempts  at 
remedy  or  consequent  pains  of  remorse.  God 
told  his  people  of  old  that  when  they  built  their 
flat-roofed  houses,  on  which  many  an  hour  would 
be  spent,  they  must  build  a  battlement.  If  they 
96 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

did  not,  and  any  one  fell  off,  his  blood  would  be 
on  the  owner's  head. 

Ought  we  not  to  put  guards  at  points  of 
peril  in  our  lives, — not  for  others  alone,  but  for 
our  own  exceptional  moments  ?  We  are  not 
always  at  our  best.  We  are  not  always  safe 
where  ordinarily  we  move  without  peril.  Every 
deepened  conviction,  every  outward  commitment, 
every  vow  and  pledge  and  new  act  of  consecra- 
tion is  putting  a  guard  at  the  point  of  possible 
personal  danger.  Should  we  not  learn  the  les- 
son, too,  in  our  city  life,  that  railings  are  better 
than  ambulances,  and  building  parapets  than  set- 
ting bones  ?  Looking  for  the  springs  of  evil  is 
a  better  investment  of  time  than  groaning  at 
the  muddy  mouth  of  the  river ;  and  preventing 
the  sowing  of  seeds  of  sin,  than  taking  care  of 
harvests  of  shame.  How  much  better  to  guard 
lives  with  new  hopes  and  opportunities,  new 
interests  and  outlooks,  to  fortify  them  in  advance 
against  danger,  than  to  attempt  the  restoration 
and  reformation  of  lives  that  have  suffered 
remediless ! 

And  who  shall  dare  refuse,  though  he  be 
strong  and  steady,  to  build  battlements  at  dan- 
gerous edges  of  his  life,  lest  a  weaker  brother 
may  fall  where  he  stood  safe  ?  Can  any  pleasure 
of  "uncharted  freedom,,1  any  pride  of  personal 
self-indulgence,  justify  the  moral  catastrophe 
97 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

which  our  self-confidence  may  provoke,  our 
example  encourage  ?  Better  any  barrier  of  lov- 
ing self-denial  than  another's  blood  through  our 
loveless  self-assertion.  Let  the  brotherhood  of 
Jesus  Christ  remember  the  weak  brother,  and 
interpret  Christian  liberty  in  the  light  of 
Christian  love. 

A  Lesson  from  Peter  the  Rock. 

Thousands  of  pages  have  been  written  on 
Christ's  words  to  Peter :  "  On  this  rock  I  will 
build  my  church.'"  May  not  Peter's  own  writings 
about  the  "  Living  Rock,"  the  "  sure  foundation," 
throw  some  light  on  the  meaning  ?  Peter  says 
nothing  of  himself  as  being  more  than  any  other 
Christian.  Quite  humbly  he  refers  to  the  word, 
"  stone  of  stumbling  "  which  Jesus  used  so  sharply 
on  that  memorable  day,  but  writing  to  Christians 
he  says :  "  To  whom  coming  as  to  a  living 
stone,  ye  also  as  living  stones  are  built."  Was 
not  Peter  the  first  stone  on  the  foundation,  upon 
whom  the  next  living  stones  rested  ?  Was  not 
Peter  the  one  who  led  thousands  to  Christ  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  the  first  to  open  the  door  of 
faith  to  the  Gentiles  ?  Let  us  not  deny  him  this 
primacy.  But  let  us  learn  this  from  him  :  that 
we,  who  through  some  Christian  have  learned  of 
Christ,  must  so  live  that  another  can  learn  Christ 
98 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

through  us,  —  that  we,  who  have  rested  the 
weight  of  our  faith  and  hope  on  the  testimony 
and  life  of  another  and  so  have  been  built  upon 
the  true  foundation,  must  ourselves  be  living 
stones,  able  to  win  the  confidence  and  support  of 
some  one  else.  Each  living  stone  that  is  built 
upon  another  must  in  its  turn  become  the  founda- 
tion for  another.  Supported  myself  by  another, 
I  must  myself  support  another. 

"  Now  therefore  ye  are  no  more  strangers  and 
foreigners,  but  fellow-citizens  with  the  saints  and 
of  the  household  of  God  ;  and  are  built  upon  the 
foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus 
Christ  himself  being  the  chief  cornerstone,  in 
whom  all  the  building  fitly  framed  together 
groweth  unto  a  holy  temple  in  the  Lord.'" 

Every  stone  in  a  growing  temple  stands  in  this 
double  relation,  —  laid  on  the  course  below  in 
trust,  and  bearing  up  in  trustworthiness  the 
course  above  it. 


Steadfastness. 

The  business  of  a  river  is  to  flow.  Its  banks 
may  be  beautiful  or  unpleasing ;  its  current 
strong  or  sluggish ;  its  skies  blue  or  clouded ;  its 
waters  may  mirror  flowers  in  spring  and  ferns  in 
summer ;  may  float  the  dead  leaves  of  fall,  or  be 
hemmed  in  and  pressed  by  the  ice  in  winter — 
99 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

it  must  flow  on.  A  noisy  brook  in  its  youth,  a 
noble  river  at  last,  so  deep  that  men  say,  "  There 
go  the  ships,'1  majestically  entering  the  ocean  ; 
but  from  its  birth  to  its  bourne  its  business  is  to 
flow.  Here  eddies  may  seem  to  be  turning  it  back, 
there  the  current  may  be  checked  by  a  resisting 
arm  of  land,  but  the  central  stream  moves  stead- 
ily onward  as  though  led  by  the  hand  of  destiny. 

Is  not  this  steadfastness  to  mark,  to  make,  the 
character  of  your  lives  ?  Is  it  not  God's  will 
that  we  should  press  steadily  on  to  our  goal  in 
obedience  to  Him,  in  channels  of  his  choosing, 
whether  in  sunshine  or  shadow,  in  the  cheer  of 
spring  or  in  the  chill  of  winter,  neither  detained 
by  pleasure  nor  deterred  by  pain  ? 

The  hosannas  of  the  children  rang  about  Jesus 
and  gladdened  his  heart,  the  palm  branches  were 
strewn  in  his  path  and  gave  him  joy,  but  he 
would  not  build  a  tabernacle  of  the  branches, 
good  as  it  was  to  be  there.  The  agony  of  Geth- 
semane  confronted  Jesus,  but  it  could  not  turn 
his  steadfast  face. 

His  life  moved  unfalteringly  onward,  neither 
beguiled  by  pleasures  nor  daunted  by  perils.  He 
felt  both,  but  would  not  let  them  determine  any- 
thing for  him.  They  must  be  incidental ;  to 
please  his  Father  was  fundamental.  "It  is 
enough  for  the  disciple  that  he  be  as  his  Master, 
and  the  servant  as  his  lord." 

100 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Remember,  then,  amid  the  joys  of  life,  the 
glad  but  steadfast  face  of  our  Master,  and  amid 
the  sorrows  of  life,  the  sad  but  steadfast  face  of 
our  Lord.  How  strong,  how  peaceful,  how 
deeply  joyful  our  lives  may  be,  if  they  are  sacra- 
mental, lived  in  memory  of  Jesus,  the  central 
stream  of  their  deep  determination,  like  his — 
doing  the  will  of  our  Father. 

The  Try-Square. 

Most  religions  are  meant  to  be  straight  lines, 
connecting  two  points — God  and  man.  If  man 
can  be  right  with  God,  if  he  can  please  and  pacify 
Him,  all  will  be  well.  But  Christianity  has  three 
points — God  and  man  and  his  brother,  with  two 
lines  that  make  a  right  angle.  Each  one  of  us  is 
at  the  point  of  the  angle,  looking  up  to  God  and 
out  to  our  brother.  What  God  sends  down  the 
perpendicular  line  we  must  pass  on  along  the 
horizontal.  If  one  hand  goes  up  to  God,  the 
other  must  go  out  to  our  brother. 

That  was  the  way  Jesus  stood,  the  Son  of  God 
and  the  Brother  of  men.  What  God  gave  him, 
he  gave  us.  "  All  things  that  I  have  heard  of  my 
Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you.,,  So  He 
expects  us  to  do.  "  As  my  Father  hath  sent  me, 
even  so  send  I  you.1' 

Let  us,  then,  live  as  our  Master  lived  and  bids 

IOI 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Us  live,  giving  our  hearts  to  God,  our  hands  to 
men.  Even  when  I  am  alone  in  prayer,  Jesus 
bids  me  say,  "  Our  Father,"  remembering  my 
brother.  If  God  send  me  riches,  I  must  bless  my 
brothers  ;  if  poverty,  I  must  set  an  example  of 
rich  faith.  If  He  sends  me  health,  I  must  divide 
my  strength  with  others  ;  if  sickness,  my  patience 
must  be  a  signal  for  God.  If  I  am  tempted,  I 
must  look  both  ways,  and  consider  my  brother 
as  well  as  my  God.  If  I  only  looked  to  God,  I 
might  spend  more  money  on  myself,  and  drink 
wine  and  ride  my  bicycle  Sunday  afternoon,  for  in 
themselves  these  things  may  not  be  sinful ;  but 
when  I  look  at  my  brothers,  some  poor,  some 
weak,  some  worldly,  I  hesitate.  The  law  of  lib- 
erty would  let  me  as  I  look  up,  but  not  the  law 
of  love  as  I  look  out. 

Let  us  put  this  try-square  on  our  lives  and 
look  both  ways,  doing  that  only  which  is  both 
filial  and  fraternal.  Then  men  who  see  our  good 
works  will  look  to  see  where  the  light  comes  from 
that  blesses  and  brightens  them,  and  through  us 
they  will  learn  to  glorify  God. 

Loyalty,  Not  Feeling. 

God  accepts  obedience  without  emotion,  but 
cannot  accept  emotion  without  obedience.  To 
advise  generosity  and  be  selfish,  to  praise  heroism 

102 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

and  be  a  coward,  to  say,  "  Lord,  Lord,"  and  not 
do  the  things  the  Lord  says, — this  is  self-decep- 
tion and  self-destruction.  Obedience  God  will 
have,  and  there  is  no  substitute  for  it.  So  essen- 
tial is  it  to  life,  so  important  is  it  in  all  physical, 
intellectual,  and  spiritual  development,  that  God 
is  willing  to  wait  for  grace  and  beauty,  the  high 
color  of  feeling,  the  glow  of  enthusiasm,  if  he  gets 
plain  obedience.  He  is  not  afraid  for  the  flower, 
if  he  can  get  the  root.  Even  knowledge,  the  ap- 
preciation of  what  the  commandments  are,  He  is 
not  jealous  over,  if  only  we  will  do  our  best  to 
keep  his  commandments  as  far  as  we  do  under- 
stand them.  He  knows  that  light  comes  through 
doing,  not  through  dreaming ;  that  the  best  way 
to  understand  his  will  is  not  to  try  to  understand 
it,  but  to  try  to  do  it.  So  it  is  a  thousand  times 
better  to  do  God's  will  without  knowing  it  than 
to  know  it  without  doing  it.  It  is  right  to  say, 
"  I  wish  I  knew  God's  will  more  perfectly."  It  is 
better  to  pray,  "  O  God,  help  me  to  do  thy  will, 
as  I  know  it,  more  perfectly  than  ever." 

"  When  saw  we  thee  and  fed  and  clothed  and 
comforted  thee  ?  "  cried  the  astonished  ones  on  th$ 
right  of  the  judge.  They  did  not  realize  what 
they  had  been  doing,  but  they  had  done  the  will 
of  God.  Whatever  they  on  the  left  may  have 
thought  or  known  or  hoped  or  planned,  they  did 
not  do  the  will  of  God.  God  classified  them 
103 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

on    this    basis.     "By   thy    fruits   ye    shall    be 
known." 

We  must  put  the  emphasis  of  living  where  God 
will  make  his  tests  of  life.  "Why  call  ye  me 
Lord,  Lord,  and  do  not  the  things  that  I  say  ? " 
Interest  yourself  in  the  interesting,  be  entertained 
by  the  entertaining,  be  absorbed  in  the  absorb- 
ing, but  do  not  forget  for  one  day  that  study, 
business,  pains,  pleasures,  are  only  incidental. 
Loyalty  to  God  is  alone  fundamental.  Feelings, 
words,  deeds,  must  be  beads  strung  on  the  string 
of  duty.  Let  the  world  tell  you  in  a  hundred 
ways  what  your  life  is  for.  Say  you  ever  and 
only,  "Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy  will,  O  my  God." 
Out  of  that  dutiful  root  grows  the  beautiful  life, 
the  life  radically  and  radiantly  true  to  God, — the 
only  life  that  can  be  lived  in  both  worlds. 

Encouragement. 

Nowhere  is  the  tenderness  of  the  friendship  of 
Jesus  to  be  seen  more  beautifully  and  afFectinglv 
than  in  the  words  uttered  in  the  upper  room, 
which  Luke  records  in  chapter  xxii.,  28-32. 
The  disciples  must  have  been  ashamed  when  theitf 
Lord  discovered  them  still  disputing  who  should 
be  first,  who  should  be  greatest.  Could  they 
help  being  rebuked,  when  he  took  the  place  of 
the  missing  servant  and  did  the  lowly  office  no 
104 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LWING 

one  of  them — aspirants  for  greatness — would 
humble  his  pride  or  risk  his  official  chance  by 
doing  ?  How  easily  and  naturally  must  depres- 
sion and  discouragement  have  come  on  them ! 
How  far  away  from  him  they  must  have  felt 
themselves !  What  had  they  amounted  to,  or 
what  were  their  hopes  worth  ? 

See  how  Jesus  treats  them.  Three  ways  he 
encourages  them,  touching  their  past,  their  fut- 
ure, and  their  present.  "  Ye  are  they  which 
have  continued  with  me  in  my  temptation,"  the 
ones  who  have  stood  by  me.  You  have  been  my 
friends  in  the  day  of  small  things.  I  do  not  for- 
get it,  and  will  not.  Then  he  looks  forward. 
"  I  appoint  you  a  kingdom."  Do  not  get  things 
in  false  proportion.  The  real  kingdom  is  there. 
This  life  is  apprenticeship.  This  is  drill,  train- 
ing, testing.  Things  are  not  rewards,  but  tools. 
Stand  by  me  faithfully  in  temptation,  be  faithful 
in  that  which  is  least,  and  I  will  reward  you  with 
heavenly  appointments  that  will  make  you  forget 
any  earthly  disappointments.  "  I  appoint  you 
a  kingdom,  as  my  Father  hath  appointed  me  a 
kingdom." 

Thus,  having  looked  backward  and  recognized 
what  they  had  been  to  him,  and  looked  forward 
and  told  them  what  they  had  to  hope  for,  He 
looks  about  and  tells  them  that,  though  they  are 
to  be  terribly  tested,  He  is  praying  for  them. 
105 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Who  shall  say  what  that  encouragement  did  for 
them  ?  Their  faith  was  shaken,  but  not  broken. 
They  were  shattered  by  their  enemy's  attacks, 
shattered  and  scattered,  but  the  day  came  when  they 
had  learned  the  weakness  of  self  and  the  strength 
of  their  Lord.  Then  the  day  of  small  things 
passed  on  to  the  day  of  things  great,  heroic  things 
done  and  borne  for  Christ.  Strife  for  places  gave 
way  to  zeal  for  usefulness,  and  they  who  once  for- 
sook their  master  and  fled  now  counted  it  all  joy 
to  suffer  for  his  name's  sake,  and  counted  not 
their  lives  dear  unto  themselves  if  they  could  help 
the  kingdom  to  come.  Was  the  encouragement 
of  Jesus  lost  upon  these  men  ? 

A  Verse  for  the  New  Year. 

Phil.  4  :  6. — "  Be  careful  for  nothing  ;  but  in 
everything  by  prayer  and  supplication  with 
thanksgiving  let  your  requests  be  made  known  to 
God."  "  Careful "  means  full  of  unnecessary  care 
— crossing  rivers  before  we  reach  them,  dreading 
troubles  that  never  come,  expecting  evil  of  the 
Lord  instead  of  good  ;  in  a  word — worrying. 

Do  not  worry  is  a  hard  word,  but  it  is  a  plain 
command.  The  anxious  Christian  hurts  more 
than  himself;  he  hurts  the  faith  of  those  who 
know  him  and  the  good  name  of  his  Lord  who 
has  promised  to  supply  all  his  needs. 
106 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Go  deeper  into  the  text :  "  But  in  everything 
by  prayer  and  supplication  let  your  requests  be 
made  known  unto  God."  That  means  there  is 
nothing  we  cannot  pray  about.  Why  do  we  not 
believe  it  and  act  upon  it? 

What  we  can  take  to  God  we  can  trust  to 
God.  What  we  put  our  fidelity  into,  He  will 
perfect  by  his  faithfulness.  While  we  work  for 
the  best,  He  works  the  best  for  us.  We  may 
not  succeed  as  we  hoped  ;  we  may  have  discipline 
we  little  expected,  but  the  Father  knows  what 
his  child  needs. 

What  God  has  for  us  to  do  we  can  do,  or  to 
bear  we  can  bear.  When  He  says  "  My  grace  is 
sufficient  for  thee,'"  dare  we  doubt  it  ?  Is  there 
not  enough  in  his  ocean  to  fill  our  pitcher  ? 
With  the  need  of  every  day  will  come  his  prom- 
ised supply. 

And  do  not  forget  the  words,  "with  thanks- 
giving.'" Be  on  the  lookout  for  mercies.  The 
more  we  look  for  them  the  more  of  them  will  we 
see.  Blessings  brighten  when  we  count  them. 
Out  of  the  determination  of  the  heart  the  eyes 
see.  If  you  want  to  be  gloomy,  there's  gloom 
enough  to  keep  you  glum  ;  if  you  want  to  be 
glad,  there's  gleam  enough  to  keep  you  glad.  Say 
"  Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all 
his  benefits."  Better  lose  count  in  enumerating 
your  blessings  than  lose  your  blessings  in  telling 
107 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

over  your  troubles.  "  Be  thankful  unto  him,  and 
bless  his  name.  For  the  Lord  is  good,  his  mercy 
is  everlasting." 

Unbraid  the  verse  into  three  cords  and  bind 
yourself  to  God  with  them  in  trustful,  prayerful, 
thankful  bonds, — Anxious  for  nothing,  Prayerful 
for  everything,  Thankful  for  anything — "and 
the  peace  of  God  which  passeth  all  understanding 
shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  through  Christ 
Jesus." 

Our  Business  in  the  World. 

One  of  the  first  questions  we  ask  when  we  con- 
front a  new  and  strange  piece  of  machinery  is, 
"  What  is  it  for  ?  "  It  is  a  child's  constant  ques- 
tion. The  soundest  common  sense  is  in  it,  the 
surest  proof  of  a  sound  natural  philosophy.  We 
believe  without  being  told  that  there  is  a  purpose 
back  of  everything.  Nothing  happens.  Even 
accidents  betray  a  purpose  to  prove  the  value  of 
the  laws  that  have  been  broken.  It  is  a  fateful 
moment  when  the  habit  of  asking  "  why  ? "  has 
brought  the  question  to  us  about  ourself — What 
am  I  for  ?  One  thing  is  clear  on  general  princi- 
ples— all  things  ideally,  and  therefore  intention- 
ally, are  for  the  best  possible  uses.  A  knife  is 
not  meant  to  be  a  baby's  plaything,  nor  a  watch 
to  prop  up  the  leg  of  an  uneven  table.  Perhaps 
in  some  swift  emergency  a  lower  than  the  highest 
108 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

use  can  be  made  of  something,  but  not  for  long, 
without  doing  violence  to  reason. 

Tell  me  that  my  business  in  life  is  to  eat,  and 
drink  and  be  merry,  and  I  admit  at  once  that  it  is 
true  at  times,  but  not  all  the  time.  Nothing  can 
so  perfectly  eat,  drink  and  be  merry,  as  a  kitten, 
but  to  say  that  that  exhausts  the  possibilities  of 
a  man,  or  even  of  a  little  child,  is  to  say  what  we 
do  not  believe.  Hundreds  of  things  are  included 
in  my  life.  They  have  their  place,  and  a  claim 
not  to  be  denied,  but  when  I  am  told  that  they 
are  what  I  am  for,  I  know  better.  They  are  to 
be  subjected,  to  be  put  under  me.  They  are 
subsidiary  and  must  subserve  the  supreme  interest 
of  my  life.  And  what  is  that  ?  To  find  pleas- 
ure and  to  avoid  pain  ?  That  cannot  be,  unless 
life  is  to  be  called  a  failure,  for  every  life  misses 
some  pleasures  and  meets  some  pain. 

If  success  in  life  means  all  sunshine,  then 
failure  is  the  lot  of  everybody.  But  there  is 
something  higher  than  pleasure  and  pain,  than 
sunshine  and  storm,  to  which  these  are  only  inci- 
dental, and  that  is  doing  God's  will.  That  is 
supreme.  That  touches  everything  in  life  and 
makes  the  best  of  it,  and  in  making  the  best  of 
things  makes  the  best  of  us.  That  is  what  we 
are  for,  to  glorify  God — to  make  him  glorious 
in  the  doing  of  his  will  in  every  relation  of  life. 

"  Life,"  says  de  Tocqueville,  "  is  not  pleasure 
109 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

nor  pain,  but  an  earnest  business  with  which  we 
are  entrusted,  which  we  are  to  carry  on  and  to 
cany  out  with  honor."  "  Lo,  I  come  to  do  thy 
will,  O  my  God,1'  is  an  utterance  of  the  soul  that 
gives  life  at  once  the  highest  unity  and  consist- 
ency, power  and  joy,  peace  and  fruitfulness.  The 
smallest  task  feels  its  dignity,  the  noblest  calling 
becomes  the  more  ennobled.  The  trying  and 
disagreeable  and  wearisome  things  are  seen  in  a 
new  light  and  borne  with  a  high  hope.  It  is  like 
work  on  a  splendid  building.  Digging  and  cart- 
ing, cutting  and  trimming,  stone  and  mortar  and 
scaffolding,  all  belong  to  a  great  purpose  and 
push  its  fulfilment. 

The  will  of  God !  To  do  my  share  of  it — ■ 
where  I  live,  with  my  tools,  with  my  opportuni- 
ties, with  my  enlargement  or  limitations — that 
is  what  I  am  for.  It  is  a  life  of  self-surrender,  as 
I  look  up, — of  constant  trust  in  my  Father's 
love,  of  the  growing  intimacy  of  a  devoted  child, 
of  the  longing  to  know  him  better  and  please 
him  more  perfectly.  It  is  a  life  of  self-mastery, 
as  I  look  in, — of  steady  determination  to  keep 
my  senses  under  the  rule  of  my  spirit,  to  bring 
every  thought  even  into  captivity  to  the  obedi- 
ence of  Jesus  Christ ;  and  a  life  of  self-develop- 
ment in  the  training  of  every  power.  It  is  the 
enlarging  and  enriching  of  every  faculty ;  the 
enlightening  and  ennobling  of  tastes  and  sympa- 
ixo 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

thies.  It  is  a  life  of  self-devotion,  of  putting  my 
best  self  at  the  point  of  need,  striving  in  all 
sacred  and  sacrificial  uses  of  life  to  bless  the 
world,  to  uplift  and  redeem,  and  fill  up  in  my 
body  that  which  is  lacking  of  the  afflictions  of 
Christ. 

Let  a  man  try  to  live  with  no  sky,  no  God  in 
his  thoughts,  no  aspiration,  nor  adoration,  nor 
awe  of  soul ;  let  him  throw  the  reins  on  the  back 
of  his  body,  and  let  the  senses  do  as  they  please ; 
let  him  live  for  himself  alone  and  stay  unmoved 
in  bed  with  his  children  when  his  neighbor  lacks 
bread,  or  warm  in  his  purple  and  luxuriating  at 
his  feast  when  Lazarus  lies  cold  and  hungry  at 
his  gate,  and  is  there  any  one  who  will  doubt, 
long  before  the  end  of  things,  that  that  is  not 
what  a  man  is  for  ? 

To  do  the  will  of  God — that  is  the  chief  end 
and  glory  of  man.  No  other  aim  can  stand  in 
the  test  of  time,  to  say  nothing  of  eternity.  No 
other  aim  can  bring  every  note  in  the  gamut  of 
our  being  into  play  and  make  a  genuine  psalm  of 
life.  No  other  can  take  every  fragment  of  our 
being,  every  word  and  deed,  every  thought  and 
longing,  every  task  and  trial,  every  test  and  sor- 
row, and  fit  it  into  a  mosaic  whose  pattern  is  the 
one  shown  on  the  mount,  whose  clear  image  is 
the  predestined  likeness  of  Jesus  Christ. 


in 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

The  Father  of  Lights. 

Every  bad  thing  and  every  demoralizing  thing 
is  from  below,  and  cometh  up  from  the  heart  of 
self-will,  where  there  is  all  restlessness  and  incon- 
stancy ;  but  "  every  good  gift  and  every  perfect 
gift  is  from  above,  and  cometh  down  from  the 
Father  of  Lights,  with  whom  is  no  variableness, 
neither  shadow  of  turning." 

What  the  sun  in  the  heavens  is  to  the  earth, 
that  the  Father  is  to  us.  Was  there  ever  an  act  of 
unenlightened  worship  more  dignified  and  exalted 
than  his  who,  from  his  silent  hilltop,  watched  the 
flushing  east,  and  bowed  before  the  great  day- 
bringing,  life-giving  sun  ?  How  fine,  how  true 
the  Apostle^  comparison !  What  light  that 
brightens  a  human  face  or  lightens  a  page  or  a 
pathway  but  springs  from  the  sun  ?  The  blaze 
of  a  pine  knot,  the  shining  lamp,  the  glowing 
of  coals  or  their  reduction  and  refinement  in  jets 
of  light,  all  are  only  the  release  of  imprisoned  sun- 
shine. The  gentle  beauty  of  the  rainbow,  the 
blue  of  sky  and  sea,  the  endless  joy  of  the  flowers, 
the  witchery  of  spring,  the  luxury  of  summer,  the 
wealth  of  autumn,  the  flashing  splendor  of  a  snowy 
field,  all  bless  the  sun  for  their  being. 

Now  past  the  figure  of  speech,  we  have  reached 
the  glorious  matter  of  fact :  that  God  is  the  true 
Fathex  of  Lights  ;  the  Author  of  every  good  and 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

perfect  gift.  But  pride  awakens  and  airs  itself 
on  the  city  walls,  saying :  "Is  not  this  great 
Babylon  that  I  have  built  ?  Should  I  thank  God 
for  the  health  and  wealth,  the  education,  the 
social  position,  the  political  influence,  which  by 
my  care  and  skill,  by  my  judgment  and  perse- 
verance and  pluck  I  possess  to-day  ?  Why  should 
I  not  put  the  crown  on  my  own  head  when  I  dug 
the  gold  and  cut  and  fitted  the  jewels  ?  It  is 
mine." 

Steady,  brother  ;  listen  :  A  voice  is  sounding 
across  the  years  and  over  the  graves  of  a  hundred 
generations.  ''Beware  that  thou  forget  not  the 
Lord  thy  God  .  .  .  and  say  in  thine  heart, 
*  My  power  and  the  might  of  mine  hand  hath 
gotten  me  this  wealth.'  But  thou  shalt  remember 
the  Lord  thy  God :  for  it  is  He  that  giveth  thee 
power  to  get  wealth." 

All  any  of  us  amounts  to  is  the  interest  on 
entrusted  capital.  Who  could  wish  otherwise? 
If  we  owed  everything  to  ourselves,  no  one  could 
live  with  us.  Dependence  upon  God  means  asso- 
ciation with  God,  and  that  is  life's  supreme  op- 
portunity and  noblest  hope.  Every  gift  is  from 
above  to  take  our  thoughts  and  thanks  above. 
God's  gifts  are  to  lift  up  our  faces  to  His,  to 
awaken  us  to  love  Him.  Every  bad  and  imper- 
fect thing  drags  us  down  to  darkness  ;  every  good 
and  perfect  gift  woos  us  into  the  light.  The 
"3 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

birds  and  flowers  are  His  appeal  to  trust ;  the 
stately  order  of  the  heavens,  to  symmetry  and 
steadiness ;  the  beauty  of  nature,  to  the  beauty 
of  holiness  ;  the  affections  of  earth,  to  the  perfect 
love  of  which  they  are  but  dear  fragments.  And 
God  be  thanked  for  his  supreme  appeal — that 
good  and  perfect  gift,  the  gift  unspeakable :  His 
life,  His  love,  His  very  self  in  Jesus  Christ. 

But  a  heart  cries  out  in  the  darkness  :  "  God's 
gifts  have  been  anything  but  good  and  perfect  to 
me.  He  has  instead  robbed  me  of  health  and 
hopes  and  loved  ones.  Faith  is  a  mockery,  and 
providence  a  fooFs  dream."  Steady,  brother. 
Look  at  the  text  again  :  "  Every  good  gift  and 
every  perfect  gift  is  from  above,  and  cometh  down 
from  the  Father  of  Lights,  with  whom  is  no 
variableness,  neither  shadow  of  turning."  Won- 
derful words !  The  apostle  James  might  have 
studied  astronomy  to-day.  The  word  for  "  vari- 
ableness "  is  parallax,  and  that  means  a  difference 
due  to  a  change  in  the  point  of  view.  "  But  that 
is  just  what  I  mean,"  you  say  ;  "  God  has  changed 
toward  me.  See  how  He  treated  me  once ;  see 
my  happy  young  days,  my  glorious  buds  and 
blossoms,  and  now  see  my  luxuriance  cut  away, 
my  exuberance  gone  ;  my  branches  bleeding  from 
his  knife."  Wait  and  see,  and  trust  while  you 
wait.     God's  love  is  immutable. 

Every  gift  of  God  is  a  perfecting  gift.  The 
114 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

plow  and  the  harrow  and  the  pruning-knife  are  as 
much  his  gifts  as  the  sun  and  the  rain.  Grapes 
are  better  than  luxuriant  leaves  and  a  tangle  of 
twiners.  Character  is  worth  all  it  costs,  and  since 
God  is  ceaselessly,  changelessly  bent  upon  char- 
acter, the  denial  or  trial  that  helps  bring  it  is  as 
much  a  tool  of  his  invariable  purpose  as  the  gift 
that  makes  you  laugh  for  joy. 

The  shadow  on  your  life  came  not  from  his 
turning,  but  from  yours.  Is  night  the  turning 
away  of  the  sun  ?  No  ;  night  is  the  shadow  cast 
by  the  turning  away  of  our  little  earth  from  its 
great  bright  sun.  And  what  is  winter  but  the 
tipping  away  of  our  Northland  from  the  sun,  till 
we  shiver  in  slant,  scant  rays  ?  The  sun  does  not 
bank  his  fires  nor  grudge  his  radiance  in  Decem- 
ber. Our  bent  is  the  trouble.  When  we  turn 
again,  our  springtime  comes  with  the  singing  of 
birds  and  the  leap  of  life.  Turn  back.  With 
your  face  toward  the  Father  of  Lights,  all  shadows 
fall  behind  you. 

In  the  light  that  streams  from  the  face  of 
Christ — God's  human  face — your  sorrows  shall  be 
seen  as  lessons  in  God's  school,  your  discipline  as 
discipling,  your  cutting  back  as  the  husbandman's 
hope  of  more  fruit  and  better.  God  has  never 
changed  his  mind  of  love  toward  you,  and  never 
a  shadow  falls  because  He  has  turned  his  face 
away.  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfecting  gift 
"5 


THOUGHTS  FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

is  from  above.  Some  day  the  gold  will  be  thank- 
ful for  the  crucible,  the  steel  for  the  furnace  of 
pain,  the  purple  clusters  for  the  knife  that  cuts. 
Child  of  God,  say  "Thank  you1'  now  to  your 
Father  for  all  the  bitter  and  the  sweet;  now, 
when  it  means  something ;  now,  by  a  heroic  faith 
that  trusts  his  perfecting  love,  and  the  day  will 
come  when  you  will  bless  Him  for  every  gift  that 
lifted  you  up  from  littleness  and  selfishness  and 
sin,  to  a  life  like  his,  large,  loving,  sympathizing, 
good  and  true — beautiful  with  his  beauty,  and 
joyful  with  his  joy. 

The  Carpenter's  Son. 

"  Is  not  this  the  carpenter  ?  "  As  though  no 
words  of  wisdom  or  works  of  power  could  come 
from  a  carpenter !  If  Jesus  had  been  a  rabbi, 
in  a  scholar's  robe,  it  would  have  been  another 
thing.  Yes;  and  what  another  thing  for  us,  and 
for  all  the  world's  workers  !  Celsus  sneered  at 
the  carpenter,  and  said  that  word  proved  he  was 
an  impostor.  How  could  God  so  demean  him- 
self? But  the  world  has  left  Celsus  behind, 
along  with  the  critics  of  Nazareth,  and  blesses 
God  for  the  gentleness  and  comfort,  the  sym- 
pathy and  hope,  which  were  given  to  us  by  the 
hands  of  the  carpenter. 

It  suits  our  best  sense  that  the  one  who  spoke 
116 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

of  "  putting  the  hand  to  the  plow,"  and  "  taking 
the  yoke  upon  us,"  should  have  made  plows  and 
yokes  himself,  and  people  do  not  think  his  words 
less  heavenly  for  not  smelling  of  books  and  lamps. 
Let  us  not  make  the  mistake  of  those  Nazarenes. 
That  Jesus  was  a  carpenter,  was  to  them  poor 
credentials  of  divinity,  but  it  has  been  divine 
credentials  to  the  poor  ever  since.  Let  us  not  be 
deceived  by  social  ratings  and  badges  of  the 
schools.  Hundreds  of  doors  are  not  to  be 
opened  by  Phi  Beta  Kappa  keys. 

Carey  was  a  cobbler,  but  he  had  a  map  of  the 
world  on  his  shop  wall,  and  outdid  Alexander  the 
Great  in  dreaming  and  doing.  Many  a  tinker 
and  weaver  and  stonecutter  and  hand  worker  has 
had  open  windows  and  a  sky  and  a  mind  with 
wings.  What  thoughts  were  in  the  mind  of 
Jesus  at  his  work-bench  ?  One  of  them  was  that 
the  kingdoms  of  this  world  should  become  the 
kingdoms  of  God — at  any  cost !  Let  us  go  into 
the  carpenter's  shop  and  learn  some  lessons : 

1.  The  dignity  of  toil. — The  Architect  of  the 
universe,  by  whom  all  things  were  created,  when 
for  love's  sake  he  became  a  man,  made  plows  and 
yokes.  The  loftiest  soul  did  lowliest  work. 
Hard  hands  belonged  to  the  gentlest  heart.  The 
Son  of  God  would  not  have  an  exceptional  lot, 
but  a  common  one.  He  must  know  how  most 
men  feel,  and  so  he  became  a  wage-earner  and  a 
117 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

day-laborer.  Now  let  all  men  know  that  work, 
the  duty  of  Eden,  the  condition  of  health,  the 
law  of  progress,  the  salt  of  manhood,  the  safe- 
guard of  virtue,  bears  forever  the  sign  manual  of 
God.  Now  let  all  men  feel  the  disgrace  of  idle- 
ness, and  hail  the  infinite  dignity  of  the  words 
that  came  from  the  heart  of  the  Creator,  and  the 
lips  of  the  Carpenter :  "  My  Father  worketh 
hitherto  and  I  work." 

%  Divine  sympathy  in  toil. — What  this  means 
to  men,  may  mean  to  us,  is  beyond  words. 
"  What  does  the  unseen  Framer  of  the  world 
know  or  care  about  my  daily  tasks  ?  "  Dare  you 
look  the  Carpenter  of  Nazareth  in  the  face  and 
say  that  again  ?  The  words,  "  He  that  hath 
seen  me  hath  seen  the  Father,"  bring  to  us 
immediately  the  assurance  of  the  divine  sympa- 
thy. Of  course,  the  Omniscient  knows  every- 
thing, but  now  we  know  that  He  knows  with  a 
new  certainty  and  nearness.  See  the  lack-lustre 
eye  of  the  worker  who  knows  not  the  love  of  God 
as  Christ  revealed  it.  Now  see  him  after  he  has 
known  Christ.  He  is  resting  at  noon  in  his  shop, 
reading  the  words  Mark  6:3:  "Is  not  this  the 
carpenter  ?  " 

11  Yes,  yes,  a  carpenter,  same  trade  as  mine. 
It  warms  my  heart  as  I  read  that  line. 
I  can  stand  the  hard  work,  I  can  stand  the  poor  pay, 
For  I'll  see  that  Carpenter  at  no  distant  day." 
US 


THOUGHTS    FOR    EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

How  like  the  Lord  are  the  words  of  the 
"  Logia,"  lately  found  in  Egypt :  "  Lift  the 
stone,  and  thou  shalt  find  me ;  cleave  the  wood, 
and  there  am  I ! "  Lift  up  your  head,  lift  up 
your  heart,  toiler  of  the  common  day,  your  Sav- 
iour has  drunk  the  cup  you  are  drinking.  He 
knows  how  it  tastes.  Let  the  thought  of  his 
loving  sympathy  stir  your  heart  to  new  hope  and 
love  and  loyalty. 

A  friend  of  Cardinal  Manning  reports  these 
words  of  his :  "  I  was  going  down  that  street 
once,"  pointing  to  a  row  of  houses,  just  finished, 
"  and  I  met  a  boy  in  plain  dress,  with  a  pale,  but 
lovely,  thoughtful  face,  and  I  stopped  him  for  the 
pleasure  of  speaking  to  him.  '  Well,  my  little 
man,  where  are  you  going  with  your  bundle?' 
He  said,  '  There,'  pointing  to  one  of  the  houses 
being  built,  '  to  my  father.'  6  What  is  your 
father?'  I  asked.  'A  carpenter,  sir.'"  "Then," 
the  cardinal  added  ,slowly,  "  I  was  awed  and 
startled.  I  had  met  a  carpenter's  son !  My 
Lord  was  once  a  little  servant  like  that  boy. 
Oh,"  he  said,  with  swimming  eyes,  "  what  depths 
of  love  were  in  Christ !  " 

3.  The  discipline  of  toil. — But  the  end  of 
sympathy  and  comfort  is  one  with  the  end  of  toil 
itself,  our  character  and  capacity.  One  of  this 
life's  capital  truths  is  that  the  worker  is  more 
than  the  work.  The  work  accomplished  is  less 
119 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

than  the  accomplished  worker.  The  workshop 
was  part  of  the  schooling  of  Jesus.  Those  eigh- 
teen years  were  bounden  days  of  apprenticeship. 
The  Master  himself  had  to  be  a  disciple  and  learn 
by  heart  what  he  should  one  day  teach.  He 
knew  what  monotony  meant,  and  fidelity  without 
applause ;  the  sight  of  the  trader's  wealth  and 
the  rabbi's  recognition,  the  patience  of  the  plow 
and  the  constraint  of  the  yoke.  How  hard  it 
must  have  been  to  work  and  wait  in  obscurity  all 
those  years  after  the  vision  that  came  to  him, 
when  he  went  up  to  the  temple  and  viewed  the 
world  from  the  portals  of  his  Father's  house. 
Nazareth  must  have  been  dull  enough  after  the 
brilliant  city  of  the  great  King. 

Is  the  disciple  above  his  master  ?  Shall  we 
count  it  a  "  strange  thing "  if  we  have  to  know 
"  discipling  "  in  weary  days  of  unrecognized  faith- 
fulness among  uncongenial  surroundings,  the  task 
so  dull,  the  hope  so  remote,  the  heart  so  tired  of 
the  low  and  little,  so  hungry  for  the  lofty  and 
glorious  ?  Be  patient.  Life  is  not  wages,  but 
worth ;  not  what  we  have,  but  what  we  are. 
Present  tests  are  for  future  trusts.  If  we  cannot 
be  depended  on  in  that  which  is  least,  how  dare 
we  dream  about  great  commissions  ?  If  we  are 
faithless  and  worthless  in  the  shop,  can  we  expect 
an  opening  heaven  and  the  words,  "  This  is  my 
beloved  child"?  If  we  flinched  from  the  plow 
1 20 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY    LIVING 

and  the  yoke,  what  would  become  of  us  if  we 
faced  a  cross  ?  Let  us  steady  ourselves,  then,  to 
be  and  do  our  best  just  now  and  here,  and  leave 
all  thoughts  of  wages  and  promotion  and  honors 
with  God.  "  Be  thou  faithful,"  is  the  word  for 
us  to-day.  To-morrow  is  God's  and  its  glorious 
hope  of  "  the  crown  of  life." 

Written  on  Shipboard,  February,  1901. 

There  is  a  certain  border-land  in  which  we 
must  live  no  small  part  of  our  time.  It  is  not 
the  country  of  compromise,  but  of  give  and  take. 
We  are  bound  by  deep  conscientiousness  to  be 
truthful,  but  that  does  not  mean  brutally  truth- 
ful. Truth  need  not  be  a  ragged  edge  of  rock, 
but,  while  profoundly  structural,  it  can  be  grass- 
grown  and  fragrant  through  gentle  arts  of  culti- 
vation. We  are  bound  to  be  polite  and  self- 
sacrificing,  but  bound  also  to  let  others  deny 
themselves  for  us.  We  are  bound  to  give,  but 
no  less  to  receive.  We  may  have  a  right  to  be 
annoyed,  but  we  need  not  wholly  live  up  to  it. 
We  may  be  obliged  to  reprove,  but  we  can 
instantly  plan  some  scheme  of  kindness.  Life 
demands  a  firm  hand,  but  there  is  no  law  against 
wearing  a  velvet  glove. 


121 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Thy  will  be  done  means  more  than  thy  will  be 
borne.  No  matter  what  sorrow  invades  our  life, 
we  are  still  to  do  God's  will.  We  shall  see  after- 
wards that  the  sorrow  rightly  accepted  fitted  us 
to  do  some  new  duty,  or  to  do  our  old  duty  more 
effectively.  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  thy  servant  hear- 
eth,"  is  the  right  cry  in  the  hour  of  bewildering 
grief.  "  What  wilt  thou  have  me  to  learn  and 
do  ?  "  It  is  not  how  we  like  our  new  lesson,  but 
how  we  learn  it  that  is  of  highest  importance, 
not  how  we  feel  at  the  loss  of  an  old  tool,  but 
can  we  make  more  faithful  and  fruitful  use  of  the 
tools  that  are  left.  Life  can  never  be  the  same, 
we  say,  but  it  ought  not  to  be,  and  what  it  costs 
to  make  it  better  we  can  well  afford  to  pay. 
Instead,  then,  of  a  resignation,  which  passionately 
or  passively,  defiantly  or  despairingly,  lets  go  the 
prized  possession,  let  there  be  the  heroism  of  re- 
nunciation which  says,  "  Now  that  I  know  God's 
will,  /  lay  this  down  of  myself,  to  live  a  better  life 
— more  blessed  and  more  blessing  without  it, 
than  I  could  have  lived  with  it."  How  certainly 
will  the  future  justify  such  faith,  and  a  braver 
bearing  of  God's  will  lead  to  a  better  doing  of 
God's  will. 

There  is  nothing  possible  to  a  human  soul 
greater  than  simple  faithfulness.  And  the  word 
faithful  stands  out  as  the  hopeful,  possible  thing 

122 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

about  our  lives.  Faithful — faith  in  God,  fidel- 
ity to  God — it  means  both.  Faithful  to-day, 
faithful  to-morrow,  will  mean  faithful  unto  death 
— and  that  will  mean  "  a  crown  of  life." 


Jesus  is  not  the  door  into  a  little  life.  He 
leads  us  into  the  largest,  fullest  life.  The  Chris- 
tian sees  the  King  in  his  beauty  in  the  land  of 
the  far  distances.  And  what  is  our  life  for,  but 
to  make  it  sacred  to  Jesus,  a  life  like  his,  laid 
down  for  the  good  of  men  ?  To  live  for  our- 
selves is  to  die.  To  make  life  an  end  in  itself  is 
to  end  life  ;  to  love  your  life  is  to  lose  it.  But 
lose  your  life,  and  you  save  it ;  lay  it  down  all  at 
once,  if  God  should  so  will,  or  a  little  at  a  time 
every  day,  for  Jesus's  sake  and  the  Gospel's,  and 
you  will  find  it  lifted  up  in  power  to  draw  men 
to  Jesus. 

Many  of  God's  angels  come  to  us  in  veiled 
blackness ;  often  his  choicest  messengers  meet  us 
thus.  The  angels  in  black  are  coming  to  you 
from  way  off  over  the  plain — nearer  and  nearer 
they  come,  up  to  the  very  door  of  the  tent — 
welcome  them  courteously — receive  them  not 
unwillingly,  not  inhospitably,  for  so  you  receive 
the  God  of  peace.  So  meet  his  veiled  angels, 
that  you  can  take  the  gift  they  bring, — a  new 
123 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

sense  of  God,  the  Father  Almighty — and  travel 
the  rest  of  the  pilgrimage  with  Him  whom  your 
soul  has  learned  to  know  as  its  lover,  and  whom 
you  bless  because  He  afflicted  you. 

This  is  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  makes  us 
free — when  He  gives  us  the  inspiration,  the  de- 
sire, and  the  power  to  choose  God's  will ;  to  say 
with  Paul,  "  The  love  of  Christ  constrains  me  to 
live  no  longer  for  myself,  but  for  Him  who  died 
for  me ;  though  I  be  free  from  all  men,  yet  have 
I  made  myself  servant  unto  all ; "  to  say  with 
Jesus,  "  I  lay  down  my  life  of  myself."  This  is 
divine  freedom,  to  choose  of  our  own  accord, 
and  by  the  spirit's  enabling  the  life  of  loving  ser- 
vice. 

Goodness  outranks  goods.  A  bursting  barn 
and  a  godless  heart  proclaim  a  fool  without 
hope.  Life  is  more  than  meat,  and  the  body 
than  raiment,  and  a  soul  outweighs  the  world. 
So  character  must  come  before  comforts,  and  God 
before  bread.  "  Seek  ye  first  the  Kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things 
shall  be  added  unto  you." 

Christian  possession  means  stewardship.     Ad- 
mission to  God's  loving  favor  means  commission 
124 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

to  divide  it  with  others.  To  be  obliged  to  God 
for  his  goodness,  means  that  we  are  obliged  to 
be  good  to  those  about  us.  "  As  my  Father  hath 
sent  me,  even  so  send  I  you."  What  does  that 
mean,  but  that,  as  Jesus  revealed  God  to  us,  so 
must  we  reveal  Him  to  others. 

No  one  can  do  anything  to-morrow.  If  I  live 
until  to-morrow  and  do  anything,  it  will  have 
been  done  to-day ;  then,  if  it  is  right,  do  it  to-day. 
To-morrow  may  not  come.  Fly  your  flag  to-day 
for  Jesus  Christ,  if  you  have  given  yourself  to 
Him.  You  will  be  stronger  to  fight  a  good  fight 
and  keep  the  faith  to-morrow,  if  to-morrow  ever 
becomes  to-day. 

How  it  would  revolutionize  life  if  we  could 
agree  to  have  one  day  a  year  for  murmuring  and 
complaining,  for  letting  out  the  floods  of  pent-up 
annoyances  and  grudges  and  slights,  and  be 
thankful  the  rest  of  the  time  !  How  much  bet- 
ter than  to  try  to  be  thankful  one  day  by  law 
and  grumble  by  impulse  for  three  hundred  and 
sixty-four  !  Let  to-day  sound  a  thankful  note  to 
ring  through  the  year. 

The  true  way  to  increase  any  Christlike  trait 
of  character  is  to  deliberated  and  tirelessly  prac- 
X25 


THOUGHTS  FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

tice  it.  Like  a  muscle,  it  grows  by  stress  and 
strain.  Practice  patience  and  cheerfulness,  for 
example,  regularly,  and  they  will  grow  stronger, 
whether  you  enjoy  the  exercise  or  not. 

God  has  promised  to  satisfy — but  He  did  not 
promise  when.  God  has  time  enough,  and  so 
have  you.  God  has  boundless  resources,  and  His 
resources  are  yours.  Can  you  not  trust  him  ? 
Trust  and  wait.  He  knows  what  is  best  for  you, 
He  has  reasons  for  denying  you  now,  but  in  the 
end  He  will  satisfy. 

It  is  not  wrong  for  a  shadowed  heart  to  prompt 
sunny  words.  Even  a  cat  will  curl  up  in  the  only 
spot  of  sunshine  in  the  room.  If  our  life  is 
clouded  and  the  clouds  have  a  silver  lining,  let  us 
wear  our  clouds  wrong  side  out,  or  bright  side  out. 

Life  is  what  we  are  alive  to.  It  is  not  length* 
but  breadth.  To  be  alive  only  to  appetite, 
pleasure,  pride,  money-making,  and  not  to  good- 
ness and  kindness,  purity  and  love,  history,  poetry, 
music,  flowers,  stars,  God  and  eternal  hopes,  it  is 
to  be  all  but  dead. 

Look  out  for  the  beginnings  of  sin.     The  thin 
edge  of  the  wedge  always  comes  first,  and,  like 
126 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

the  camel's  nose,  seems  insignificant,  but  it  is  not 
insignificant.  Now  is  our  time  to  resist.  A  little 
later,  and  we  have  lost  our  chance.  Resist  be- 
ginnings. 

The  deeper  men  go  into  life,  the  deeper  is  their 
conviction  that  this  life  is  not  all.  It  is  an  "  un- 
finished symphony.1'  A  day  may  round  out  an 
insect's  life,  and  a  bird  or  a  beast  needs  no  to- 
morrow. Not  so  with  him  who  knows  that  he  is 
related  to  God  and  has  felt  "  the  power  of  an 
endless  life." 

The  kindness  of  Christmas  is  the  kindness  of 
Christ.  To  know  that  God  so  loved  us  as  to  give 
us  his  Son  for  our  dearest  Brother,  has  brought 
human  affection  to  its  highest  tide  on  the  day  of 
that  Brother's  birth.  If  God  so  loved  us,  how 
can  we  help  loving  one  another  ? 

There  is  no  better  way  to  show  our  trust  than 
to  busy  ourselves  with  the  things  He  asks  us  to 
do.  Trusting  Him  to  take  care  of  his  share 
leaves  us,  "at  leisure  from  ourselves"  to  do  our 
share  of  the  "  Father's  business." 

We  must  live  as  the  Saviour  did  ;  his  sorrows  he 
divided  with  his  Father — his  life  with  the  world, 
127 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Th&  business  of  life  is  to  be  moving  God-wards, 
happy  or  unhappy.  Yet  happiness  is  most  likely 
to  come  to  those  who  are  so  moving. 


Do  not  let  the  good  things  of  life  rob  you  of 
the  best  things. 

Mystery  is  God's  allurement  along  the  path  of 
knowledge ;  it  is  his  challenge  to  a  human  soul. 

Decide  what  it  is  your  duty  to  do,  do  it,  and 
never  regret  anything  that  comes  in  its  train. 

"If  thou  faint  in  the  day  of  adversity,  thy 
strength  is  small," — too  small  to  be  worth  talking 
about,  for  the  day  of  adversity  is  its  first  real 
opportunity. 

Christianity  is  not  an  invention,  but  a  dis- 
covery. Its  central  message  is  the  life  and  love 
of  God  revealed,  unveiled,  in  Christ. 


If  men  cannot  believe  in  the  Christians  whom 
they  have  seen,  why  should  they  believe  in  Christ 
whom  they  have  not  seen  ? 
128 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Evening  meditation  is  less  important  than 
morning  preparation.  "  Well  begun  is  half  done." 

Life  is  correspondence  to  an  infinite  environ- 
ment, touching  God  and  true  to  God  at  every 
point  of  feeling,  thinking,  willing,  loving. 

"  Try  it  any  way  "  is  a  good  motto.  There  is 
a  chance  that  you  might  succeed.  Even  if  you 
do  not,  you  will  be  no  worse  off  than  before. 
Faint-hearted  refusal  is  the  worst  kind  of  failure. 


No  lot  in  life  is  small  enough  to  stunt  a  soul. 
Lowly  circumstances  are  no  bar  to  high  thoughts. 

The  Christian  who  lives  by  the  power  of  Christ's 
indwelling  Spirit,  becomes  a  "demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  in  power,"  a  visible  and  indubitable 
proof  of  what  God  can  do  in  a  human  life. 

With  your  God-given  will  you  may  dispose 
yourself  in  opposition  to  your  disposition. 

If  we  show  the  Lord's  death  at  Communion, 
we  must  show  the  Lord's  life  in  the  world.     If  it 
is  a  Eucharist  on  Sunday,  it  must  prove  on  Mon- 
day that  it  was  also  a  Sacrament. 
129 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

May  the  tasks  of  my  life  be  accepted  as  tests 
of  my  fidelity  and  accomplished  for  Thy  glory, 
and  the  smallest  duties  be  done  well  to  give  Thee 
pleasure. 

There  are  no  mile  posts  among  the  stars. 
Light  and  space  quite  sweep  away  our  little 
measurements.  So  some  day  will  our  years  be 
caught  up  in  the  Eternity  to  which  we  belong. 
How  glorious  to  be  forever  the  Lord's  ! 

To  be  happy  is  after  all  but  an  incident.  To 
be  good  and  to  do  good,  to  know  God  and  to 
serve  him,  are  the  important  things. 

We  shall  be  glad — really  glad — of  everything 
that  has  come  to  us,  no  matter  if  it  is  sorrow  or 
pain,  when  we  find  that  our  experience  fits  some 
one  else's  need — that  some  one  else  can  build  on 
our  lives. 

We  are  here  to  represent  Christ — to  present 
him  again,  to  re-present  him. 

Take  care  that  your  profession  does  not  outrun 
your  possession.     Artificiality  and  hypocrisy  tear 
character  to  shreds  eventually. 
130 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Salvation  is  going  to  Jesus  for  what  he  can 
give  us — adoption,  forgiveness,  strength — and 
then  going  into  the  world  with  what  he  gives,  to 
live  his  life  and  do  his  work. 


If  you  do  fall,  if  you  are  overcome,  He  is 
faithful  and  just  to  forgive,  and  to  cleanse  every 
day  from  all  unrighteousness. 

The  man  who  never  makes  any  mistakes  never 
makes  anything.  Many  chips,  broken  instru- 
ments, cuts  and  bruises,  belong  to  the  history  of 
any  beautiful  statue.  Persist  in  spite  of  every- 
thing. 

Prayer  is  a  breath  of  fresh  air — much  else,  of 
course,  but  certainly  this.  It  is  inspiration  on  a 
hill-top  for  new  toiling  on  the  plain. 

When  I  want  to  speak  let  me  think  first,  Is  it 
true  ?  Is  it  kind  ?  Is  it  necessary  ?  If  not,  let 
it  be  left  unsaid. 


How  can    we   redeem    society   if   we   do   not 
everywhere  put  ourselves  on  the  constructive  side 
of  moral  questions  ?     If  all  people  did  as  we  do 
131 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

in  politics,  amusements,  temperance,  Sabbath- 
observance,  would  the  day  be  won  for  God  or 
lost  ? 

Look  out  for  choices.  They  run  into  habit, 
character,  destiny. 

Death  is  only  the  shadow  on  the  river  of  this 
life,  where  it  meets  the  great  sea  of  eternal  life. 

We  have  no  outside,  distant,  occasional  Sav- 
iour, as  the  disciples  had  long  ago ;  but  his 
Spirit,  his  other  self,  to  abide  with  us,  in  us,  to- 
day, to-morrow,  forever. 

For  what  of  the  ape  and  tiger  there  is  in  man 
he  is  not  responsible,  but  for  petting  and  pam- 
pering it  when  he  should  be  chaining  and  starv- 
ing it. 

We  are  like  children  learning  to  walk.  We 
fall  again  and  again.  Sometimes  we  cry  out ; 
sometimes  we  look  up  and  try  to  smile ;  but  we 
do  get  up  again  and  try  to  go  on. 

Accidents  are  consequences.  Cause  and  effect 
are  mother  and  child.  Hands,  human  or  divine, 
are  back  of  coincidences. 

132 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Size  is  not  strength.  Reputation  is  not  char- 
acter.    Outward  success  is  not  God's  gauge. 

God  holds  you  responsible  for  your  nature  plus 
your  nurture,  for  yourself  plus  your  possibilities. 

The  late  breakfast,  the  morning  paper  that  did 
not  come,  the  rainy  day,  the  contradiction,  the 
snub,  the  slight — these  are  the  termites  that  eat 
out  our  character,  the  little  foxes  that  spoil  the 
grapes. 

If  God  made  no  response  except  to  perfect  faith, 
who  could  hope  for  help  ?  He  is  the  God  of 
sprouting  seeds,  and  little  vital  beginnings. 

God's  love  is  not  rounded  out  until  I  respond 
to  it. 

When  you  can't  have  your  own  way,  don't  pose 
as  a  martyr  at  the  stake,  earning  a  halo. 

Individual  transformation,  rather  than  social 
conformation,  sounds  the  note  of  advance. 

What  have  you  done  to-day  that  nobody  but 
a  Christian  would  do  ? 

133 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Disappointment  feeds  development  in  earnest 
souls. 


Live  with  the  light  of  God's  love  shining  into 
your  common  day.  Take  old  gifts  and  joys  con- 
tinued as  though  they  were  fresh  gifts.  So  we 
can  sing  a  new  song  unto  the  Lord  every  day. 

Temperament  is  wax  before  the  human  will 
and  God.  Natural  traits  are  powerless  before 
moral  decisions. 


134 


PRAYERS 


PRAYERS 

At  Communion  Service. 
Let  us  so  live  to-morrow,  that  we  and  others  may 
be  conscious  where  we  have  lingered  to-day. 
We  come  to  Thee,  thy  sorrowing,  sinning,  de- 
feated, careless,  struggling,  but  ever-returning 
children.  May  these  signs  signify  not  so  much 
thy  love  as  our  response  to  that  love.  We  keep 
this  feast  "  till  he  come  ; "  then  it,  too,  shall  fade 
back  into  the  memories  of  earth  because  of  the 
marriage-supper  of  the  Lamb.  We  accept  thine 
invitation,  Lord, — unworthy  enough,  but  not  un- 
worthily, because  in  obedience  to  thy  command 
and  in  love  to  Thee.  If  to-morrow  our  plans  are 
broken,  may  we  be  patient,  and,  thinking  of  that 
Broken  Life,  may  we  offer  the  parts  of  our  broken 
plans  as  a  sacrament,  a  sacred  thing,  to  Thee. 
Holy  Spirit,  take  of  the  things  of  Christ,  and 
show  them  to  us,  and  show  them  through  us,  that 
the  world  may  know  Thee. 

On  Christmas  Day. 
We  see  Jesus  in  the  manger.     We  adore  him ; 
we  worship  him  ;  we  glorify  him.     We  stand  op- 
pressed before  such  love — a  love   stronger  than 
137 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

death — a  love  so  strong  that  it  did  die  that  we 
might  live.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  sweetness  of 
human  love,  but  how  could  we  ever  have  dared  to 
think  that  such  love  was  in  the  heart  of  God  for 
us  !  We  look  on  nature  and  see  thy  beauty  and 
thy  majesty,  but  we  are  afraid,  for  we  have 
sinned.  And  then  we  learn  that  thou  hast  sent 
thy  Son,  to  be  bone  of  our  bone,  flesh  of  our 
flesh ;  and  before  such  inconceivable  love  we  can 
only  worship  and  adore.  We  are  so  weary  of  our 
failures  and  our  slow  growth  toward  Thee. 
Cleanse  us  deeply  from  sin,  strengthen  our  moral 
purposes. 

On  Easter  Day. 
At  Christmas  time  we  looked  on  the  face  of 
the  Babe,  and  wondered  with  the  shepherds  and 
adored  with  the  angels ;  we  have  followed  him 
through  the  years  as  he  went  in  and  out  of  his 
mother's  house  ;  we  do  not  know  when  the  con- 
sciousness of  his  real  Father  came  to  him,  but  we 
have  seen  him  thrilling  under  it ;  we  have  traced 
him  through  his  years  of  ministry ;  we  have  sor- 
rowed with  him  in  Gethsemane;  we  have  stood 
before  his  Cross,  but  there  our  sympathy  failed, 
when,  oh  wonder  of  wonders,  we  found  that  we 
had  died  with  him  and  risen  again  !  Death  hath 
no  more  dominion  over  us.  We  are  sons  and 
daughters  of  the  Resurrection. 
138 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

On  Thanksgiving  Day. 

Thou  art  better  to  the  worst  of  us  than  the 
best  of  us  deserve.  Help  us  to  realize  how  good 
a  thing  it  is  to  bear  pain  and  weariness  for  Thee 
— like  a  keen  knife  sharpened  down  to  the  han- 
dle. Teach  us  to  be  fair,  fair  in  the  distribution 
of  what  is,  after  all,  not  our  own.  May  our  faith 
get  into  our  hands  and  feet,  into  our  tongues  and 
tempers,  so  that  the  world  may  see  how  warm  is 
our  solicitude  for  thy  good  name.  May  the 
man  who  is  deliberately  doing  wrong  have  our 
pity  and  rebuke  and,  if  it  may  be,  our  sympathy 
and  help.  May  we  pass  in  well-used  tools,  that 
we  may  know  how  to  use  the  new  set  when  we 
get  them — our  own,  and  as  well  fitted  to  their 
use  as  were  these  we  lay  aside.  May  we  be  stern, 
stringent,  remorseless,  toward  our  own  sins  and 
wrong-doings.  Show  us  where  the  evil  in  us  is, 
where  the  wild  beasts  of  passion  lurk.  May  we 
set  our  faces  steadfastly  to  go  to  our  Jerusalem. 
May  we  have  an  abundant  entrance  on  that  great 
Thanksgiving  Day.  We  thank  Thee  for  past 
mercies  and  present  blessings  and  future  hopes,  so 
bright,  so  winsome,  so  dazzling.  And  they  are 
sure  to  come  true.  By  thy  forgiveness  we  hope 
to  live  lives  needing  less  forgiveness — lives  that 
shall  ring  with  victory.  May  we  give  ourselves  to 
Thee  in  a  consecration  so  complete  that  we  shall 
139 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

be  fitted  for  the  rest  of  our  lives  here  and  for  the 
never-ending  eons  of  our  true  life  there.  Bless 
every  one  who  is  doing  even  one  self-sacrificing 
piece  of  work  for  Thee.  Win  to  Thyself  from 
our  glad  and  spontaneous  hearts  new  recognition 
of  thy  goodness,  for  Thou  art  good. 

After  the  Offering. 

It  was  Thy  gift  to  us — we  give  it  back  to 
Thee.  May  those  who  receive  it  be  blessed  by  it 
and  use  it  wisely.  We  who  give  it  are  blessed, 
for  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive. 
May  the  men  who  distribute  this  money  to  those 
who  know  the  bitterness  of  being  compelled  to 
receive,  be  men  of  nicest  feeling  and  tenderest 
tact.  May  rich  and  poor  meet  together.  May 
the  Lord  be  visibly  their  Maker,  evidently  their 
Father. 

On  Various  Occasions. 

Help  us  to  live  so  that  our  lives  will  be  worth 
while.  May  the  dominion  of  the  Spirit  harness 
the  senses.  See  our  beginnings,  and  carry  us  on 
to  perfection. 

May  every  man  serve  his  city  with  inconvenient 
devotion,  and  even  though  he  see  no  result,  may 

140 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

he  faithfully  do  what  he  can  to  prepare  the  way 
for  the  workers  who  will  follow  him. 


We  thank  Thee  for  our  daily  bread.  Let  us 
not  miss  the  food  for  our  souls.  May  our  souls 
be  stronger  than  our  bodies.  May  we  feed  daily 
on  Jesus  Christ,  the  living  bread,  and  by  him  be 
strengthened  to  live  his  kind  of  a  life. 

Help  us  to  reach  out  past  the  things  we  cannot 
understand,  to  the  God  we  trust.  We  thank 
Thee  for  the  passing  of  what  changes,  and  the 
changelessness  of  that  which  passes  not. 

What  we  ask  faithfully  may  we  receive  effect- 
ually. Help  us  to  spell  the  words  Thou  hast 
given  us,  in  the  common  deeds  of  our  common 
life.  Comfort  and  heal  those  who  have  hurt 
themselves  with  their  tools.  Make  our  lives 
types  of  the  divine  life.  Keep  us  from  despond- 
ency ;  may  despondency  be  over-powered  of 
faith.  Though  the  vision  tarry,  may  we  wait  for 
it — He  knows  how  to  take  care  of  the  work  we 
have  done. 


May  we  meet  ordinary  duty   with  extraordi- 
nary beauty — ordinary  trial  with  extraordinary 
141 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

fortitude — may  ordinary  tests  be  in  our  hands 
as  clay  which  we  break  with  superhuman  power. 
We  thank  Thee  for  Thy  great  gift ;  may  we  go 
on  some  unusual  errand  for  Thee.  May  what  we 
receive  to-day  influence  what  we  do  to-morrow, 
and  make  some  one  yearn  for  Thy  gift.  Teach 
us  the  infinite  significance  of  the  opportunities 
of  life,  and  infinite  insignificance  of  the  setting 
of  life. 


Spirit  of  Jesus,  help  me  to  enter  by  this  door, 
by  this  new  and  living  way,  into  the  life  of  a 
child  of  God.  Let  me  accept  the  eternal  life  as 
my  Father's  gift  to  me  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Let  me  know  its  power  and  pleasures  more  and 
more  abundantly.  Help  me  to-day  and  every  day 
to  think  of  my  life  as  belonging  to  Jesus,  and  to 
use  it  as  he  would  have  me, — for  his  glory  and 
the  good  of  those  about  me.  Hear  me  for  his 
sake,  to  whom  I  belong,  whose  service  is  perfect 
freedom.     Amen. 

May  we  not  suffocate  our  souls  in  the  world's 
atmosphere,  but  go  up  to  the  mountain-top, 
where  the  air  is  fresher  and  purer. 

May  all  our  work  have  a  finer  finish,  and  may 
we  put  into  it  a  nobler  and  more  exalted  purpose, 
because  it  is  done  for  Thee. 
142 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Thou  hast  encouraged  every  confidence  by  tell- 
ing us  to  call  Thee  "Father." 

Increase  our  intimacy  so  that  we  may  tell  Thee 
what  we  could  tell  to  no  other — yes,  even  what 
we  could  not  express  to  our  selves. 

We  have  seen  in  Jesus,  and  in  some  Christians 
whom  we  know,  the  life  we  want  to  live.  And 
yet  we  do  not  want  to — we  are  hypocrites.  O 
Spirit  of  Jesus,  of  power,  of  cleanliness,  Thou 
madest  fickle  Peter  a  steadfast  martyr.  Thou 
canst  do  as  much  for  us.  Give  us  power  to  lay 
aside  convenience  for  loving  service — power  to 
keep  on  with  work,  however  monotonous.  May 
the  reserves  of  our  unsurrendered  lives  be  given 
up.  Let  us  go  into  the  next  life,  having  learned 
how  to  be  faithful. 


We  know  Thou  art  infinite,  yet  Thou  dost 
come  close  to  us  ;  Thou  art  eternal  and  unchange- 
able, yet  Thou  dost  transform  us  into  thine  own 
image.  We  know  Thee  as  a  God  of  wisdom  and 
power,  but  a  God  of  tenderness,  too.  Thy  jus- 
tice we  have  seen,  but  Thou  art  very  gentle  to 
us,  and  dost  show  us  thy  goodness  and  truth. 
Thou  hast  given  us  thy  Spirit,  but  in  our  own 
human  bodies ;  therefore  that  Spirit  must  find 
expression  through  these  bodies.  We  must  be 
143 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

feet  and  hands  and  channels  of  activity  for  the 
Life  that  lives  within  us.  Forgive  us  for  what- 
ever we  have  done  that  has  hurt  Thee.  We 
ask  thy  pardon  in  the  name  of  Thy  Son,  our 
Brother. 

Our  hearts  afflict  us  when  we  think  of  what  we 
are,  but  our  hearts  leap  for  joy  when  we  think 
of  what  Thou  art.  Make  us  wary  before  the 
approach  of  insinuating  temptations.  From  this 
feast  we  hope  to  receive  exhilaration  of  heart 
and  exultation  of  spirit.  Wherever  we  go,  help 
us  to  remember  that  we  are  all  in  the  Father's 
house,  in  different  rooms  of  the  mansion,  it  may 
be,  but  all  in  the  Father's  house, — and  help  us  to 
be  faithful  to  its  noblest  traditions,  and  its  sim- 
plest duties.  We  thank  Thee  for  the  body  of 
Christ  upon  earth.  May  it  be  more  full  of  Thy 
Spirit.  May  the  spur  of  Thy  love  push  our  feet 
into  some  new  path  of  service  for  Thee,  before  we 
give  out  and  break  down,  and  pass  away. 

Fill  us  with  Thy  love  that  forgives,  and  sum- 
mons, and  empowers,  and  send  us  out  into  the 
world  under  this  Thy  summoning  and  challeng- 
ing call.  Help  us  to  meet  the  next  temptation 
in  the  expectation  of  victory ; — to  expect  to  be 
able  to  bring  to  the  next  trouble  fortitude  and 
144 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

patience.  This  can  be  done.  By  the  God-given 
power  of  will  that  is  within  us,  may  we  create  a 
new  future  out  of  the  inspiration  of  this  hour. 

Thou  canst  give  Thy  love  to  all  of  us,  and  all 
Thy  love  to  each  of  us.  Help  us  not  to  feel  left 
out  and  forgotten  when  we  think  of  Thee.  Help 
each  one  to  say,  "  Thou  canst  easily  remember 
me  and  know  me  by  name,  for  in  my  particular 
place  thou  hast  no  one  else  to  look  after  but  me." 
May  we  say  to  Thee,  "  Take  all  I  have — it  may 
be  much  or  little,  according  to  the  world's  esti- 
mate, but  it  is  all  there  is  of  me,  and  it  is 
Thine." 


Shall  we  dwell  on  our  sorrows  when  we  remem- 
ber that  Thou  didst  not  spare  Thine  own  Son, 
but  deliveredst  him  up  for  us  all  ?  How  can  we 
but  believe  that  Thou  wilt  do  what  is  best  for 
us  ?  Thou  wilt  not  withhold  the  best  even  if  it 
hurt  us  to  receive  it.  If  we  have  borne  adversity 
well,  Thou  wilt  let  us  have  the  clear  sunlight,  if 
that  be  best  for  us ;  but  Thou  wilt  not  refuse  to 
us  the  shadow,  if  we  have  been  long  in  the  sun, 
and  now  need  shadow.  If  we  are  of  high  degree, 
we  will  rejoice  in  that  we  are  exalted ;  if  we  are 
low,  we  will  try  to  rejoice  that  we  are  cast  down. 
We  thank  Thee  that  we  have  seen  the  light.  If 
we  see  only  the  daybreak  and  no  more,  we  are 
MS 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

glad — it  is  so  beautiful !  But  if  it  go  on  to  the 
perfect  day,  how  can  we  speak  of  its  glory  ?  And 
the  fullest  life  here  is  only  the  daybreak,  the  be- 
ginning of  that  perfect  day  Thou  wilt  yet  reveal 
to  us.  Thou  dost  not  expect  perfection  from  us; 
Thou  dost  not  look  for  the  workman's  finished 
powers,  but  only  for  a  faithful  apprenticeship — 
and  that  we  have  tried  to  give  Thee. 


Help  me,  O  my  God,  to  see  the  proof  of  thy 
love  and  the  pattern  of  thy  life  in  Jesus  Christ. 
Help  me  to  yield  myself  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus, 
that  he  may  shed  abroad  thy  love,  and  form  thy 
life  in  me.  Help  me  to  make  the  things  of  life 
the  tools  of  my  spirit,  and  not  its  prizes ;  and  to 
regard  circumstances  as  only  the  scaffolding  on 
which  I  stand  while  I  build.  May  the  tasks  of 
my  life  be  accepted  as  tests  of  my  fidelity  and 
accomplished  for  thy  glory.  Let  me  not  regard 
temptations  as  solicitations  to  evil,  or  opportuni- 
ties for  self-indulgence,  but  as  occasions  for  moral 
victory.  Let  troubles  teach  me  sympathy  and 
discipline  make  me  a  more  intelligent  disciple. 
Let  human  love  make  me  more  aware  of  the 
divine  love.  Let  showers  and  sunbeams,  summer 
and  winter,  day  and  night,  send  my  grateful 
heart  to  Thee.  May  every  opportunity  for  ser- 
vice or  sacrifice  be  associated  with  Jesus,  and  be 
146 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

accomplished  by  the  aid  of  his  Spirit,  and  may 
death  be  no  more  than  the  bell  that  sounds  when 
school  is  over,  and  going  home,  may  I  find  that  I 
had  laid  up  my  treasure  in  the  right  place.  In 
the  name  of  my  Redeemer  and  friend.     Amen. 


*47 


PASSAGES  FROM   LETTERS 


PASSAGES    FROM    LETTERS 


On  the  Death  of  a  Child. 

It  will  be  hard  for  you  not  to  ask  why  this 
must  be. 

God  knows  why,  and  that  may  be  as  good  to 
us  as  though  we  knew  a  thousand  reasons.  I 
pray  God  to  hold  you  quiet  and  patient  and 
uncomplaining,  and  help  you  bear  the  weight  of 
this  seemingly  unintelligible  sorrow.  I  hope  you 
will  remember  that  this  is  the  only  world  in  which 
a  Christian  can  suffer,  and  suffer  patiently  and 
meekly.  We  cannot  suffer  by  and  by.  God 
helps  us  to  glorify  Him  now,  when  we  can. 


On  the  Death  of  a  Husband. 
I  wish  I  knew  how  to  help  you  just  now. 
Live  all  you  can  for  others — looking  out,  not  in. 
"  O  blest  are  they  who  learn  to  make  the  joys  of 
others  cure  their  own  heart-ache" — if  not  cure, 
at  least  quiet  for  a  little.  Some  day  you  will  see, 
now  bravely  trust,  lovingly  live — and  "quietly 
wait  for  the  salvation  of  our  Lord."  May  the 
One  who  promises,  "As  thy  day,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be," — keep  that  promise  to  your  faith 
151 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

and  fortitude,  and   make  your  life,  whatever  its 
inward  pain,  an  outward  blessing. 

On  the  Death  of  a  Husband. 

During  these  days  of  strain  and  suspense  I 
have  wished  I  could  be  a  little  help  to  you.  I 
can  tell  you  this  at  least,  and  pray  that  you  may 
have,  from  God  and  your  friends  and  your  own 
heart,  strength  enough  to  get  through  a  day  at  a 
time.  I  do  not  see  what  else  you  can  do  but  just 
live,  now.  You  cannot  understand,  or  explain, 
but  you  know  as  well  as  I,  that  back  of  every- 
thing is  God,  and  God  is  light, — we  shall  see. 
And  God  is  love — we  shall  be  satisfied.  It  may 
be  a  long  while,  but  it  will  be  worth  waiting  for. 
Trust  Him  all  you  can — you  will  be  glad  you 
did.     I  wish  I  could  help  you. 

To  One  in  Great  Anxiety. 

I  have  just  heard  of  the  new  burden  of  sym- 
pathy and  suffering  the  Father  has  laid  on  your 
heart. 

More  and  more  it  comes  to  me,  that  as  in  the 
Father's  home  above  there  are  many  rooms,  so  in 
his  school  below  there  are  many  benches.  No 
two  of  us  are  taught  just  alike.  Just  why  you 
should  be  led  as  you  have  been  and  are  being  led 
152 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

— just  why  you  should  have  such  hard  lessons  to 
learn,  and  so  much  tension  on  your  heart  strings, 
no  one  knows  but  God :  but  He  knows — and 
that  is  worth  everything  to  a  child.  "My 
Father  knows,  and  I  can  wait  for  His  explana- 
tion." "  Even  so,  Father,  for  so  it  seemeth  good 
in  thy  sight." 

In  the  meantime,  say  over  to  yourself  again 
and  again,  "  seventy  times  seven  "  times  a  day,  if 
need  be,  the  blessed  words  of  the  sure  promise, 
"My  Grace  is  sufficient  for  thee."  It  has  been — 
It  is — It  will  be. 


Written  at  Bethel,  April,  1901,  on  Hearing  of 
the  Death  of  a  Friend's  Mother. 

I  heard  yesterday  that  God  had  called  your 
mother  home  to  heaven.  It  will  seem  more  than 
ever  like  Home  to  you  now.  Remember  to  think 
of  your  mother  always  as  living,  just  away  in 
another  room  of  our  Father's  house.  Jesus  does 
not  want  us  to  say,  "  dead,"  for,  as  He  said,  "  all 
live  unto  him,"  though  they  may  seem  dead  to  us. 

We  had  the  Lord's  Supper  together  Thursday 
evening  in  an  "upper  room"  in  Jerusalem,  and 
walked  to  Gethsemane.  Good  Friday  we  had 
prayers  on  Calvary  by  moonlight.  Thank  God 
for  his  love  and  our  living  hopes.  God  bless 
you  all. 

153 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY    LIVING 


On  Hearing  of  the  Wounding  of  a  Friend  at 
the  Battle  of  El  Caney. 

Your  letter  has  stirred  me  deeply,  for  the 
strain  under  which  you  have  all  been  and  still  are 
is  a  peculiarly  hard  and  harrowing  one.  But 
that  word  harrow  is  not  "  harry ; "  it  does  not 
mean  the  tormenting  of  the  field,  but  its  prepara- 
tion for  larger,  or  better,  or  different  yield.  The 
will  of  God  is  best  always,  and  hurts  so  much  less 
when  we  go  with  it.  What  God  means,  we  can- 
not always  see,  but  if  we  wait  trustingly,  He  will 
show  us,  and  we  shall  be  satisfied. 


To  One  in  Great  Distress. 

Push  happiness  out  of  your  life  as  an  intention 
or  expectation,  and  settle  down  as  simply  and 
earnestly  as  you  can  to  usefulness  ;  then  God  will 
send  you  what  further  happiness  He  sees  best. 
You  are  building  character  fast  nowadays,  laying 
deep  foundations  of  patience,  courage,  and  brav- 
ery; building  much  under  gloomy  skies,  where  no 
sun  and  stars  appear  for  many  days.  But  re- 
member God  knows  all  about  you,  and  will  some 
day  satisfy  you.  God  bless  you  by  making  you  a 
blessing. 


i54 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 


To  a  Young  Woman  in  Special  Temptation  and 
Need. 

It  seems  a  long  time  since  I  saw  you.  How 
are  you  getting  on,  and  where  are  you  ?  I  wish 
some  time  you  would  come  to  see  me. 

Has  it  been  just  as  hard,  up-hill  fighting  as  it 
was  before  ?  Whether  or  no,  we  come  sooner  or 
later  to  find  out  that  life  is  a  good  deal  of  a 
battle — with  temptation  inside  and  out,  with 
cowardice  and  pride  and  weakness  and  everything 
bad.  But  that  is  why  we  are  here — to  learn  to 
fight  a  good  fight  and  keep  the  faith.  God  is  so 
good  and  patient  with  us,  that  He  helps  us  to 
fight  on  and  fight  better,  no  matter  how  many 
times  we  have  been  whipped.  You  know  the 
Chinese  government  cuts  off  the  head  of  a  general 
if  he  is  defeated — and  so  they  never  have  any 
good  generals.  Men  learn  from  failure,  and  if  we 
never  make  mistakes,  we  never  make  anything. 
"Neither  do  I  condemn  thee,"  says  Jesus,  our 
Saviour.  "  Go  and  do  better,  I  will  help  you.  I 
will  never  leave  you  nor  forsake  you." 

This  life  is  only  a  little  beginning  anyway.  We 
are  just  learning  to  walk  and  talk  and  work.  We 
must  keep  on  trying.  We  must  get  up  when  we 
tumble  down,  and  take  our  bumps  to  our  Heavenly 
Father,  from  whom  all  mothers  get  their  love. 
Just  as  mothers  kiss  black  and  blue  spots,  and 
i55 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

dry  tears,  and  hug  us,  and  send  us  away  to  be 
more  careful,  so  God  does.  Tell  Him  everything. 
Don't  ever  give  up,  or  lose  heart  or  hope.  "  Be 
thou  faithful  unto  death,  and  I  will  give  thee  a 
crown  of  life?  Please  think  of  me  as  a  real 
friend. 

To  the  Same. 

You  did  just  right  to  send  me  word  about 
yourself  again.  I  want  you  to  think  of  me  as 
your  friend,  and  treat  me  as  a  friend — that  means, 
let  me  know  once  in  a  while  how  things  go  with 
you.  Do  not  bother  yourself  too  much  with 
longings  for  happiness  and  friendship  and  the 
"maybe's."  Take  stout  hold  of  the  joy  and 
glory  of  being  a  little  useful  to  some  one — some 
way.  Usefulness  is  splendid.  If  you  can  help 
anybody  even  a  little,  be  glad.  Up  the  steps  of 
usefulness  and  kindness,  God  will  lead  you  to 
friendship  and  happiness.  If  you  wish  and 
dream,  and  regret  and  wonder,  you  will  degen- 
erate and  be  discouraged  ;  if  you  can  add  any 
joy,  strength,  comfort,  rest,  pleasure,  to  lives  about 
you,  your  own  life  will  be  refreshed,  will  be  more 
interesting,  and  better  worth  the  living.  Turn 
your  back  on  the  past,  for  God  forgives  every- 
thing, and  turn  your  face  to  a  useful  future  in 
which  God  recognizes  anything  done  in  kindness, 
even  the  giving  of  a  drink  of  water.  Look  bright 
156 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

to  everyone,  speak  gently  and  cheerfully,  hum 
little  tunes  to  yourself  (and  to  the  Lord)  when 
you  are  working.  Plan  surprises  for  people. 
Jesus  "  went  about  doing  good."  So  can  you  in 
your  way,  with  his  spirit.  If  you  fill  well  the 
place  where  you  are  now,  be  sure  he  will  give  you 
another  place,  growing  larger  as  you  grow  larger. 
Whenever  you  feel  blue,  remember  God  loves  you, 
and  think  up  some  kindness — if  no  more  than 
sending  a  flower  to  some  one  or  writing  a  note  to 
Henry  Street,  or  Mulberry  Street,  or  to  me. 

To  the  Same. 

I  hope  you  will  not  hesitate,  when  these  books 
are  read,  to  come  to  me  again,  for  books  standing 
idle  are  talents  in  a  napkin.  I  am  glad  you  are 
fighting  so  brave  a  fight.  Never  lower  your 
ideals  a  particle,  but  every  day  do  your  very  best, 
and  you  will  build  up  a  useful  life,  which  is  the 
best  any  one  can  do  at  this  stage  of  our  exist- 
ence. And  to  your  usefulness,  God  will  now  add 
as  much  happiness  as  is  good  for  you. 

To  a  Friend  on  the  Christian's  Hope. 

I  know  no  reason  why  we  should   limit  our 
Christian  hopes  ;  for  the  God  who  satisfieth  the 
desire  of  every  living  thing — an  Old  Testament 
157 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

promise — cannot,    having    revealed   his   love   in 
Jesus  Christ,  withhold  from  us  any  good  thing. 


To  a  Friend  on  the  Communion  of  Saints. 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  communion  with  the 
invisible  saints  must  be  more  of  a  dream  than  a  real- 
ity. But  we  have  a  right  to  dream  dreams,  if 
they  are  not  contradicted  by  the  evident  laws  of 
God's  word,  or  God's  world. 


To  One  Who  Was  Greatly  Discouraged. 

Pay  as  little  attention  to  discouragements  as 
possible.  Plough  ahead  as  a  steamer  does,  rough 
or  smooth — rain  or  shine.  To  carry  your  cargo 
and  make  your  port  is  the  point. 

To  a  Harvard  Freshman. 

I  send  you  a  small  package  in  the  interest  of 
financial  accuracy.  I  hope  you  will  plug  up  that 
cavity  in  your  person.  Your  aunts  seem  anxious 
that  you  should  develop  into  a  punctilious  book- 
keeper. Keep  this  in  your  side-pocket  as  a  daily 
scratch-book  for  memoranda  of  engagements  as 
well  as  expenses.  At  night,  or  every  day  or  two, 
enter  them  up.  The  habit  of  impersonating 
Captain  Cuttle  and  "making  a  note  onV  will 
158 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

save  you  many  a  broken  engagement,  if  not  a 
broken  head  ;  and,  even  if  you  are  "  dead  broke  " 
in  the  end,  you  will  know  where  you  stand. 


Written  to  a  Friend  Over  Seventy  Years  of 
Age,  Who  Was  in  His  Last  Illness. 

I  have  thought  of  you  more  than  once  lately, 
and  wondered  how  things  were  going.  It  is  a 
comfort  to  look  back  through  the  years  and  think 
what  good  friends  we  have  been,  and  then  to 
make  a  jump  into  the  future  and  know  that  there 
the  real  summer  season  of  friendship  comes.  The 
best  things  we  have  known  on  earth  can  be  but 
small  beginnings,  little  eyes  and  buds  on  the  tree 
of  life  that  look  on  to  the  real  unfolding  of  all 
that  life  and  love  can  mean.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  life  is  rather  a  wearisome  thing  for  you  now- 
adays, but  comfort  yourself  by  knowing  that  you 
are  a  man  of  great  pluck  and  patience  and  will 
fight  the  fight  bravely,  and  keep  the  faith  loyally. 

With  changeless  affection — 

To  the  Same  Friend  a  Month  Later. 

I  hope  that  the  fight  is  not  too  hard,  and  that 

the   good    Father   gives   to  you,  his    son,   daily 

strength  for    daily   needs.     It  is  no  joke  for  a 

man   so  accustomed   to   good,  honest,   out-door 

159 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

dirt,  and  birds  and  beasts  and  everything  fresh 
and  breezy  to  be  shut  up  in  the  house  like  a  bird 
in  a  cage.  But  it  is  part  of  the  schooling,  and 
until  the  bell  rings,  we  must  be  good  children. 


To  the  Same  Friend  Two  Months  Later,  in 
May. 

I  know  just  how  the  old  place  looks,  with 
everything  in  full  bloom,  and  wish  I  could  hear 
the  orioles  and  the  wrens  and  even  the  chattering 
of  the  black-birds.  It  is  a  comfort  to  think  that 
the  spring-time  comes  because  of  the  Living  God, 
and  that,  past  our  summer  sunshine  and  autumn's 
ripening  and  winter's  decay  and  bareness  and  out- 
ward death,  there  lies  the  immortal  hope  of  the 
soul's  spring-time.  "  Because  I  live  ye  shall  live 
also." 

I  hope  you  are  fairly  comfortable,  though  I 
hardly  dare  to,  for  it  is  no  joke  letting  go  of  our 
tools  as  they  wear  out.  But  you  are  God's 
workman,  and  some  fine  day  He  will  give  you 
a  new  kit  and  set  you  at  tasks  in  which  and  of 
which  you  will  never  weary.  I  love  to  think  of 
our  unchanged  friendship  and  that,  though  we 
may  not  be  cronies  on  the  back  piazza,  or  in  the 
garden  much  more,  if  any  more  in  this  world,  we 
shall  be  in  paradise,  which,  after  all,  is  God*s 
garden,  with  no  serpent. 
160 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

On  the  Death  of  a  Child. 

My  heart  goes  out  to  you — twice  over — for 
the  sorrow  that  has  come  to  you,  and  for  the 
thought  that  I  could  perhaps  be  a  help  to  you. 
That  shows  that  you  see  already  one  reason  why 
sorrow  comes — you  turn  to  me,  because  I  have 
tasted  the  same  cup.  Some  day  someone  will 
come  to  you,  and  you  will "  comfort  with  the  com- 
fort wherewith  you  yourself  have  been  comforted." 
Perfect  sympathy  cannot  spring  from  the  imag- 
ination. Only  they  who  have  suffered  can  really 
sympathize.  I  am  sure  you  are  saying,  like  the 
little  child  in  the  dark,  "Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy 
servant  health.'"  The  worst  of  all  losses  is  a 
lost  sorrow,  for  then  all  is  lost.  Your  little 
child  is  safe,  and  I  believe  your  sorrow  is  safe, 
too,  for  you  are  your  Father's  child,  and  you  want 
to  please  Him.  I  would  not  ask  "  why "  if  I 
were  you.  "How"  is  a  better  word — how  can 
I  glorify  Thee,  how  well  can  I  show  those  who 
know  me  how  the  Father  can  help  His  child.  God's 
will  is  not  to  be  borne,  but  ever  to  be  done. 
Now  you  are  to  do  His  will  under  new,  hard,  dis- 
tressing and  depressing  circumstances.  If  we 
were  pagans,  we  might  hide  ourselves  and  our 
despair,  but  we  are  Christians  who  say  "  Our 
Father  n  and  hear  our  Saviour's  words,  "  Because 
I  live  ye  shall  live  also."  Heirs  then  of  eternal 
161 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

, * 

life  and  love — our  own,  ours  forever,  sleeping 
or  waking — here  or  there — with  uplifted  faces, 
brave  hearts  and  faithful  hands,  we  must  do  our 
work,  help  lift  others1  burdens,  scatter  kindnesses, 
following  him  who  said,  knowing  it  would  lead  to 
the  Cross,  "Follow  me.11  I  did  not  mean  to 
write  all  this.  I  only  meant  to  tell  you  how 
sorry  I  am  for  you.  Enter  the  door  of  a  brave 
and  patient  trust.  "  Blessed  are  they  who  have 
not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed."  This  is  the 
only  world  in  which  you  can  suffer,  so  do  it  per- 
fectly, trustingly,  unselfishly,  seeking  through 
your  grief  to  be  better  fitted  to  serve  in  Christ's 
name  and  way  those  who  need.  Always  think  of 
me  as  your  friend,  and  take  any  advantage  of  my 
friendship.  What  are  we  for,  but  to  love  and 
help  one  another  ? 

On  the  Death  of  a  Father. 

Not  a  day  has  passed,  since  God  called  your 
father  from  the  home  here  to  the  home  there, 
that  I  have  not  thought  of  you  and  prayed  for 
you.  I  thought  I  would  wait  a  little  while 
before  writing — it  takes  quite  a  while  to  get 
one's  breath  and  be  able  to  think  straight. 

I  have  no  comfort  to  give  you.  God  has  given 
you  all  possible  comfort.  All  I  can  do  is  to  try 
to  help  you  to  take  it.  I  know  you  do.  God 
162 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

has  been  at  great  pains  to  tell  you — to  prove  to 
you — that  He  loves  you.  "  He  that  spared  not 
His  own  son,"  but  gave  him  freely  for  you,  has 
done  that  which,  if  fully  understood,  if  fully 
appreciated,  would  make  a  doubt  of  His  goodness, 
of  His  kindness  impossible.  Pillow  your  head, 
rest  your  heart  in  the  thought — true  now — true 
for  ever  and  for  ever — God  loves  you.  "  I  am 
poor  and  needy,  but  the  Lord  thinketh  upon  me."" 
Some  day  you  will  see  what  this  thought  of  you 
that  has  found  expression  in  this  sorrow  means, 
and  that  it  was  another  proof  of  God's  love. 
Glorify  God,  and  get  His  peace  by  believing  it, 
though  you  cannot  see  it.  "Blessed  are  they 
that  have  not  seen,  and  yet  have  believed."  Trust 
God  now  in  the  dark,  when  it  means  something. 
It  will  be  so  easy  to  see  it  all,  and  to  be  thankful, 
when  the  perfect  day  dawns. 

Perhaps  the  richest  of  God's  earthly  gifts  is  an 
accepted  sorrow.  Do  not  lose  this  one.  Accept 
it.  Say  "  Speak,  Lord,  for  Thy  servant  heareth,,,) 
and  He  will  tell  you  some  things  worth  all  it  cost 
to  hear  them.  I  cannot  say  what — but  you  will 
know.  You  will  be  more  heavenly  minded — 
more  patient — more  kind  and  gentle — more  con- 
secrated to  the  good  you  can  do.  I  am  sure  of 
this  much ;  for  these  are  some  of  "  the  peace- 
able fruits  of  righteousness "  that  come  after- 
wards, in  those  whom  God  loves  and  chastens. 
163 


POEMS 


POEMS 

"Give  Us  This  Day  Our  Daily  Bread." 

Back  of  the  loaf  is  the  snowy  flour. 

And  back  of  the  flour  the  mill ; 
And   back  of  the   mill   is  the  wheat,  and  the 

shower, 
And  the  sun,  and  the  Father's  will. 

O  That  I  May  Grow. 

O  that  I  may  grow ! 
I  see  the  leaves  out-pushing  hour  by  hour, 

With  steady  joy  the  buds  burst  out  aflower 
Urged  gladly  on  by  Nature's  waking  power. 

O  that  I  may  grow. 

O  that  I  may  grow ! 
What  though  Time  cuts  his  furrows  in  my  face, 

My  heart  may  ever  add  grace  unto  grace, 
Graces  with  added  days  still  keeping  pace. 

O  that  I  may  grow. 

In  the  Furrow. 

The  dark  brown  mould's  upturned 

By  the  sharp-pointed  plow, 
And  I've  a  lesson  learned. 
167 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

My  life  is  but  a  field 

Stretched  out  beneath  God's  sky, 
Some  harvest  rich  to  yield. 

Where  grows  the  golden  grain, 

Where  faith,  —  where  sympathy  ? 
In  a  furrow  cut  by  pain. 

Be  Strong. 
Be  strong ! 
We  are  not  here  to  play,  to  dream,  to  drift. 
We  have  hard  work  to  do,  and  loads  to  lift. 
Shun  not  the  struggle ;  face  it.     'Tis  God's  gift. 

Be  strong ! 
Say  not  the  days  are  evil, — Who's  to  blame  ? 
And  fold  the  hands  and  acquiesce — O  shame  ! 
Stand  up,  speak  out,  and  bravely,  in  God's  name. 

Be  strong ! 
It  matters  not  how  deep  intrenched  the  wrong, 
How  hard  the  battle  goes,  the  day,  how  long. 
Faint  not,  fight  on  !     To-morrow  comes  the  song. 

The  All  in  All. 

What  light  of  earth  but  springeth  from  the  sun  ? 

What  human  love  but  from  the  Father's  heart  ? 
Then  let  my  thanks  be  given  to  God,  the  One 

Above,  and  you  below,  to  each  a  part. 

168 


THOUGHTS  FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

You  are  not  robbed,  and  doubly  rich  am  I ; 

For  love  of  God,  through   you,  I  love    you 
more. 
Sot  is  God  robbed  by  thanks  to  you,  and  why  ? 

For  your  dear  sake  I  newly  Him  adore. 


Love  and  Loyalty. 

Thou  hast  not  asked  me,  Lord, 
To  first  of  all  love  Thee, 

But  simply  to  believe  the  word 
That  tells  Thy  love  to  me. 

Thou  dost  not  bid  me  feel 
An  ardent  love  for  Thee, 

And  fear  affection  is  not  real 
That  does  not  burn  in  me. 

But  Thou  hast  said,  "  My  friend 
Is  he  who  keeps  My  word." 

This  I  can  do  even  to  the  end ; 
I  can  be  faithful,  Lord. 

Then  will  the  loyal  heart 
Find  its  reward  above ; 

For  when  I  see  Thee  as  Thou  art 
I  cannot  help  but  love. 


169 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

In  Many  Parts. 

God  of  the  Dew, 

In  gentlest  ministry, 

As  silently 
Would  I  some  soul  refresh  anew. 

God  of  the  Sun, 

Far  flaming  heat  and  light, 

Be  my  delight 
On  radiant  errands  swift  to  run. 

God  of  the  Star, 

To  its  stern  orbit  true, 

My  soul  imbue 
With  dread,  lest  I  Thine  order  mar. 

God  of  the  Sea, 

Majestic,  vast,  profound, 

Enlarge  my  bound, — 
Broader  and  deeper  let  me  be. 

Not  to  Be  Ministered  To, 

O  Lord,  I  pray 

That  for  this  day 
I  may  not  swerve 

By  foot  or  hand 

From  Thy  command, 

Not  to  be  served,  but  to  serve. 

170 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

This,  too,  I  pray, 

That  for  this  day 
No  love  of  ease 

Nor  pride  prevent 

My  good  intent, 
Not  to  be  pleased,  but  to  please. 

And  if  I  may, 

I'd  have  this  day 
Strength  from  above 

To  set  my  heart 

In  heavenly  art, 
Not  to  be  loved,  but  to  love. 


Rest. 

Rest  in  the  Lord,  my  soul ; 

Commit  to  Him  thy  way. 
What  to  thy  sight  seems  dark  as  night, 

To  Him  is  bright  as  day. 

Rest  in  the  Lord,  my  soul ; 

He  planned  for  thee  thy  life, 
Brings  fruit  from  rain,  brings  good  from  pain, 

And  peace  and  joy  from  strife. 

Rest  in  the  Lord,  my  soul ; 

This  fretting  weakens  thee. 
Why  not  be  still  ?     Accept  His  will ; 

Thou  shalt  His  glory  see. 
171 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

I  Am  Thine. 

A  fragrance  of  a  flower 
That  fills  unseen  the  air, 
As  at  the  twilight  hour 
There  stealeth  unaware 
The  sound  of  music  sweet 
And  gently  in  accord ; 
So  when  my  lips  repeat 
Thy  name,  O  Christ,  my  Lord, 
There  warms  a  sudden  glow 
Within  this  heart  of  mine — 
A  joy,  as  well,  I  know, 
That  tells  me  I  am  Thine. 

Sonnet. 

The  sun  had  hardly  risen  on  my  sight 
And  given  me  fairest  promise  for  the  day, 
Ere  clouds  began  to  drive  my  hopes  away, 
And  bring  back  to  the  air  the  chill  of  night. 
"Ah,  me,"  I  cried,  "my  day  that  dawned  so 

bright, 
Why  must  it  thus  be  clouded  in  an  hour ; 
Why,  ere  the  bud  had  time  to  burst  aflower, 
Must  it  be  checked,  and  never  see  the  light  ?  " 
And  then  an  answer  came.     It  was  the  sight 
Of  One  who,  tho'  He  suffered,  doubted  not ; 
Who,  tho'  a  Man  of  Sorrows,  ne'er  forgot 
172 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

His  Father's  will,  but  made  it  his  delight, 
And  perfected  thro'  suffering,  looked  at  me, 
Saying,  "  My  child,  wouldst  thou  not  perfect  be  ?' 


Companionship. 

No  distant  Lord  have  I, 
Loving  afar  to  be ; 
Made  flesh  for  me,  He  cannot  rest 
Until  He  rests  in  me. 

Brother  in  joy  and  pain, 
Bone  of  my  bone  was  He, 
Now, — intimacy  closer  still, 
He  dwells  Himself  in  me. 

I  need  not  journey  far 
This  dearest  friend  to  see, 
Companionship  is  always  mine, 
He  makes  His  home  with  me. 

I  envy  not  the  twelve, 

Nearer  to  me  is  He  ; 

The  life  He  once  lived  here  on  earth 

He  lives  again  in  me. 

Ascended  now  to  God, 
My  witness  there  to  be, 
His  witness  here  am  I,  because 
His  spirit  dwells  in  me. 
i73 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

0  Glorious  Son  of  God, 
Incarnate  Deity, 

1  shall  forever  be  with  Thee 
Because  Thou  art  with  me. 

Worship. 

When  the  great  sun  sinks  to  his  rest, 
His  golden  glories  thrilling  me, 
And  voiceless  longings  stir  my  breast, 
Then  teach  me,  Lord,  to  worship  Thee. 

And  when  the  stars — the  daylight  fled — 
In  serried,  shining  ranks,  I  see, 
Filling  the  splendid  vault  o'erhead, 
Then  teach  me,  Lord,  to  worship  Thee. 

If  roaming  by  the  ocean's  shore, 
The  murmuring  waves  sing  low  to  me, 
Or  thundering  billows  hoarsely  roar, 
Then  teach  me,  Lord,  to  worship  Thee. 

Or  if  in  solemn  forest  shades, 
The  calm  of  nature  steals  o'er  me, 
And  silence  all  my  soul  pervades, 
Then  teach  me,  Lord,  to  worship  Thee. 

Not  in  the  sacred  shrines  alone, 
Which  chime  their  summons  unto  me, 
Would  I  look  to  Thy  heavenly  throne, 
But  everywhere  would  worship  Thee. 
i74 


THOUGHTS   FOR    EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Sailing  Westward. 

(Written  on  the  Germanic,  September,  1898.) 

How  stoutly  and  grimly  our  iron  prow 
Pushes  its  way  to  the  West, 
Like  the  sharp,  steel  point  of  a  shining  plow 
That  cleaves  the  green  field's  breast. 

How  glorious  the  sun  in  the  sky  to-day ; 
Why  rush  with  such  haste  along, 
And  lose  the  bright  hours  as  we  speed  away. 
And  the  gleam  of  the  waves,  and  their  song  ? 

But  the  heart  of  the  ship  still  throbs  away, 
It  never  dreams  of  rest ; 
How  joyous,  how  winsome  soe'er  the  day, 
On,  steadily  on,  to  the  West ! 

Now  thunders  the  gale  in  its  awful  might, 
Tis  madness  to  face  such  a  sea. 
Why  brave  such  risks  in  a  hopeless  fight  ? 
About  ship  !     And  off  for  the  lea  ! 

But  the  good  ship  will  not  flinch  from  her  foe, 
She  has  set  herself  for  the  fray. 
Her  orders  are  Westward,  come  weal,  come  woe. 
And  she  cannot  but  obey. 

175 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Then  onward  through  sunshine,  and  storm  and 

night, 
No  tarrying  here,  my  soul ; 
Thou  must,  if  thou  read  thy  chart  aright, 
Push  steadily  on  to  thy  goal. 

Let  pleasures  delight  thee,  but  not  detain, 
Let  courage  in  storms  rise  higher, 
And  thy  Pilot  will  bring  thee  thro'  joy  and  pain 
To  the  haven  of  thy  desire. 


The  Moon. 

I  watched  a  boy  who  looked  with  wondering  eyes 
At  the  young  Moon  clear  in  the  Western  skies, 
Shining  with  slender  crescent,  silver  bright, 
Upon  the  spellbound  child's  enraptured  sight. 

"  What  is  it  that  you  see,  my  child  ?  "  said  I. 

"  The  Moon  so  beautiful,"  was  his  reply. 

"But   tell   me   what   the    Moon    is.      Do    you 

know  ?  " 
"  It's  beautiful ! "  he  said, — his  face  aglow. 

I  turned  away  and  thought,  Do  I  know  more  ? 
What  is  the  Moon  ?     A  dead  world,  cold  to  the 

core. 
What  else  ?     A  planet  circling  'round  the  earth. 
What  else  ?     Why  nothing  else  of  any  worth 
176 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Except  that  it  is  beautiful !     Ah,  me. 
What  wish  I  more,  so  long  as  I  can  see 
With  kindling  eye  its  beauty,  and  can  feel 
Its  endless  charm  through  all  my  being  steal  ? 


Oh,  God,  I  pray  Thee  for  the  childlike  heart 
That  can  enjoy — all  vexing  thoughts  apart — 
The  beauties  Thou  in  Heaven  and  Earth  dost 

show, 
Nor  fret  myself  with  things  I  do  not  know. 


The  Love  of  God. 

God's  boundless  Love  and  arching  sky 
Above  us  when  we  wake  or  sleep, 
Above  us  when  we  smile  or  weep, 
Above  us  when  we  live  or  die. 

God's  tireless  Love  !      Beside  the  cot 
Of  her  sick  child  the  mother  sleeps. 
The  Heavenly  Father  ever  keeps 
Unweary  watch — He  slumbers  not. 

God's  patient  Love !     Misunderstood 
By  hearts  that  suffer  in  the  night. 
Doubted — yet  waiting  till  Heaven's  light 
Shall  show  how  all  things  work  for  good. 
177 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

God's  mighty  Love  !     On  Calvary's  height, 
Suffering  to  save  us  from  our  sin, 
To  bring  the  Heavenly  Kingdom  in, 
And  fill  our  lives  with  joy  and  light. 

God's  changeless  Love  !     The  wandering  one 
Forsakes,  forgets,  dishonors  ;  yet, 
Repenting,  going  home,  is  met 
With  no  reproach — "  Welcome,  my  son  ! " 

God's  endless  Love  !     What  will  it  be 
When  earthly  shadows  flee  away, 
For  all  Eternity's  bright  day 
The  unfolding  of  that  Love  to  see  J 


The  First  Day  of  Spring. 

My  heart  in  tumult,  thro'  the  woods  I  fare, 
The  chill  of  Winter  lingering  in  the  air, 
The  dead  leaves  rustling  on  the  trees  o'erhead, 
And  dead  leaves  crackling  underneath  my  tread. 
The  harsh,  discordant  rooks  incessant  call, 
The  wood  dove  moans,  and  sighing  thro'  it  all, 
The  wind   that  seems  to  make  more  sad  each 

sound 
Soothes  not,  but  aggravates  my  grief  profound. 

O  memory,  what  pangs  thou  bringest  me, 
As  I  recall  the  joys  that  used  to  be, 
178 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

My   summertime    when   brightest   dreams   came 

true, 
When  hopes  fulfilled  taught  me  to  hope  anew. 
But   now — the    flowers   have    faded,   birds   have 

fled, 
My  tears  have   spent   themselves,  and   hope   is 

dead. 
O  cruel  Winter,  naught  survives  thy  blight, 
Naught   but   my  graves,  my  grieving   and   the 

night. 


What  fragrance  of  the  softening  earth  is  this  ? 
'Tis  Nature,  waking  'neath  the  sun's  warm  kiss, 
And  here's  a  blade  of  grass,   fresh-sprung   and 

green, 
And  there's  a  budding  twig — the  first  I've  seen. 
My   heart,   look    up !      The    blessed    Spring   is 

near — 
The  Spring,  the  Resurrection  of  the  year. 
Is  near  ?     Is  here — for  there's  a  bluebird's  note 
Purling  and  gurgling  from  his  tawny  throat. 

Thank  God  for  the  return  of  this  sweet  Spring, 
For  the  new  life  that  throbs  in  everything. 
It  tells  me  that  the  Winter  meant  not  death, 
'Twas  Nature  resting — Nature  taking  breath. 
My  sorrow  chilled  me  like  the  snow  and  frost, 
I  doubted  God,  but  now  my  doubts  are  lost. 
179 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

After  the  storm  and  chill  and  waiting  long, 
Shall  come  the  time  of  birds  and  flowers  and 
song. 

My  Father's  World. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

On  the  day  of  its  wondrous  birth 
The  stars  of  light  in  phalanx  bright 

Sang  out  in  Heavenly  mirth. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

E'en  yet  to  my  listening  ears 
All  nature  sings,  and  around  me  rings 

The  music  of  the  spheres. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

I  rest  me  in  the  thought 
Of  rocks  and  trees,  of  skies  and  seas, 

His  hand  the  wonders  wrought. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

The  birds  that  their  carols  raise, 
The  morning  light,  the  lily  white, 

Declare  their  Maker's  praise. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

He  shines  in  all  that's  fair. 
In  the  rustling  grass  I  hear  Him  pass, 

He  speaks  to  me  everywhere. 
180 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

From  His  eternal  throne, 
He  watch  doth  keep  when  I'm  asleep, 

And  I  am  not  alone. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

Dreaming,  I  see  His  face. 
I  ope  my  eyes,  and  in  glad  surprise 

Cry,  "  The  Lord  is  in  this  place." 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

I  walk  a  desert  lone. 
In  a  bush  ablaze  to  my  wondering  gaze 

God  makes  His  glory  known. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

Among  the  mountains  drear, 
'Mid  rending  rocks  and  earthquake  shocks, 

The  still,  small  voice  I  hear. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

From  the  shining  courts  above, 
The  Beloved  One,  His  only  Son, 

Came — a  pledge  of  deathless  love. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

Now  closer  to  Heaven  bound, 
For  dear  to  God  is  the  earth  Christ  trod, 

No  place  but  is  holy  ground. 
181 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

His  love  has  filled  my  breast, 
I  am  reconciled,  I  am  His  child, 

My  soul  has  found  His  rest. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

A  wanderer  I  may  roam, 
Whate'er  my  lot,  it  matters  not, 

My  heart  is  still  at  home. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

O  let  me  ne'er  forget 
That  tho'  the  wrong  seems  oft  so  strong, 

God  is  the  ruler  yet. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

The  battle  is  not  done. 
Jesus  who  died  shall  be  satisfied, 

And  earth  and  Heaven  be  one. 

This  is  my  Father's  world. 

Should  my  heart  be  ever  sad  ? 
The  Lord  is  King — let  the  Heavens  ring 

God  reigns — let  the  earth  be  glad. 

Surprise. 
O  little  bulb,  uncouth, 

Ragged  and  rusty  brown, 
Have  you  some  dew  of  youth  ? 
Have  you  a  crimson  gown  ? 
182 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Plant  me  and  see 
What  I  shall  be,— 
God's  fine  surprise 
Before  your  eyes ! 

O  fuzzy  ugliness, 

Poor,  helpless,  crawling  worm, 
Can  any  loveliness 

Be  in  that  sluggish  form  ? 
Hide  me  and  see 
What  I  shall  be,— 
God's  bright  surprise 
Before  your  eyes ! 

A  body  wearing  out, 

A  crumbling  house  of  clay  ! 
O  agony  of  doubt 

And  darkness  and  dismay ! 
Trust  God  and  see 
What  I  shall  be,— 
His  best  surprise 
Before  your  eyes ! 


Thine. 

Whose  eye  foresaw  this  way  ? 

Not  mine. 
Whose  hand  marked  out  this  day  ? 

Not  mine. 

183 


THOUGHTS    FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

A  clearer  eye  than  mine, 

Twas  Thine. 
A  wiser  hand  than  mine, 

Twas  Thine ! 

Then  let  my  hand  be  still 

In  Thine, 
And  let  me  find  my  will 

In  Thine  I 


A  Song. 

A  gloomy  day  in  early  March — a  day 

Of  chilling  gusts  and  whirls  of  snow,  a  day 

That  makes  the  longed-for  Spring  seem  far  away. 

But  sweetest  melody,  O  sudden  cheer  ! 

The  first  song-sparrow's  note  rings  on  my  ear, 

And  Winter's  clean  forgot,  and  Spring  is  here  ! 


Clear  Skies. 

A  fallen  leaf  on  a  flowing  stream,  and  on  the 

water  a  moment's  gleam 
Of  sunshine, — and  the  chilling  gray  o'erspreads 

more  coldly  the  Autumn  day. 
And  once  this  had  brought  a  pang  to  me,  a  sense 

of  pain  in  my  heart  to  see 
The  leafless  trees  and  the  stubble  sear,  and  the 

darkening  face  of  the  dying  year. 
184 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

It  is  not  so  now.     My  heart  is  glad,  tho'  every 

sight  and  sound  is  sad, 
For  I  have  come  to  realize  that  joy  depends  not 

on  the  skies. 
The  path  of  my  duty  holds  along  thro'  Winter's 

storm,  and  Springtime's  song, 
And  cloudy  the  day  or  stormy  the  night,  the  sky 

of  my  heart  is  always  bright. 

Memories. 

Past  the  city's  whirl  and  heat, 

In  a  garden  walking, 
Walking  'mid  the  flowers  sweet, 

With  the  flowers  talking. 

Felt  I  Nature's  gentle  hand 

In  the  breeze  caressing, 
Felt  me  in  a  happy  land, 

Felt  me  full  of  blessing. 

Yet  a  pang  was  in  my  joy — 

In  my  joy  a  sadness, 
Something  of  the  careless  boy 

Missed  I  from  my  gladness. 

Till  the  fragrance  of  a  rose 

Blew  from  out  the  years, 
How  can  Heaven  so  swift  disclose 

Thro'  a  rush  of  tears  ! 

185 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

A  Winter  Day. 

Tis  Fairyland  this  winter  day, 
The  sunlight  flashes  back  a  ray 
Of  glory  from  each  ice-clad  spray. 

It  had  been  sleeting  all  the  night, 
But  now  with  flash  of  morning  light 
The  earth  is  sparkling  silver  bright. 

The  sun  shines  warm.  It  cannot  last ; 
The  transient  gleam  will  soon  be  past, 
But  not  the  spell  upon  me  cast. 

The  vision  dawns  on  me  again 

Of  brightness  sprung  from  frost  and  rain, 

Of  beauty  born  of  grief  and  pain — 

A  beauty  brief, — but  true  the  while, 
O,  troubled  one,  you  shall  beguile 
Some  midnight  gloom,  if  you  will  smile. 


Autumn  Hopes. 

Blaze  out  in  red,  and  glow,  ye  dying  leaves, 
And  flaunt  your  flag  before  his  eyes  who  grieves, 
Stir  the  slow  pulse  of  him  who  dreads  the  Fall, 
And  warm  the  heart  that  fears  a  snowy  pall. 

1 86 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

No  bitter  wind,  no  cloud  enshrouding  wraith, 
Nor  frost,  nor  storms,  can  daunt  your  cheerful 

faith. 
Your  flaming  signals  spring  from  hidden  roots 
That  through  the  Winter  nurse  their  Springtide 

shoots. 


The  Trees  in  Winter. 

'Mid  the  Summer's  countless  beauties 
Lurketh  many  a  hidden  one, 

As  we  cannot  see  the  stars  shine 
For  the  splendor  of  the  sun. 

So,  the  exuberance  of  foliage 

Blinds  us  to  the  wondrous  charms 

Of  the  trees,  till  Winter  strips  them — • 
Gives  the  sight  of  their  bare  arms. 

Now  behold  the  Master's  drawing 
Clear  against  the  cold,  gray  sky ; 

Not  a  trace  of  warmth  or  color, 
But  fine  feasting  for  the  eye. 

For  we  see  the  vertebration, 

All  the  lines  of  radiation, 
All  the  graceful  interlacing 

Of  the  frost-like,  fairy  tracing. 


187 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

Have  thy  Summer  leaves  been  smitten, 
Beaten  off  in  storm  and  strife  ? 

Stand  up  bravely  !     Show  in  Winter, 
Strength,  grace,  symmetry  of  life. 


To  the  Dogwood. 

How  fresh,  and  pure,  and  beautiful  thou  art, 
Thou  blossoming  Dogwood.      When  the  air  of 

Spring 
Seems  palpitating  with  the  Summer's  warmth, 
Too  early  come,  thou  stretchest  forth  thine  arms 
To  cool  the  air  with  flowers  white  as  snow — 
Arms    bending   low,  as   though   with   weight  of 

snow. 

Now  Autumn's  here,  but  still  thou  cheerest  me 

With  thy  red  glory,  warming  all  the  air 

Achill  with  frost, — as  though  the  Summer's  glow 

And  splendors  of  the  sunset  thou  hadst  drunk, 

To  blush  and  flush  along  thy  leafy  veins, 

And  fire  my  heart  to  brave  the  Winter's  storm. 


1 88 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING 

School  Days. 

Lord,  let  me  make  this  rule, 
To  think  of  life  as  school, 

And  try  my  best 

To  stand  each  test, 

And  do  my  work, 

And  nothing  shirk. 

Should  someone  else  outshine 
This  dullard  head  of  mine. 

Should  I  be  sad  ? 

I  will  be  glad. 

To  do  my  best 

Is  Thy  behest. 

If  weary  with  my  book 
I  cast  a  wistful  look 

Where  posies  grow, 

0  let  me  know 
That  flowers  within 
Are  best  to  win. 

Dost  take  my  book  away 
Anon  to  let  me  play, 

And  let  me  out 

To  run  about  ? 

1  grateful  bless 
Thee  for  recess. 

189 


THOUGHTS   FOR  EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

Then  recess  past,  alack, 
I  turn  me  slowly  back, 

On  my  hard  bench, 

My  hands  to  clench, 

And  set  my  heart 

To  learn  my  part. 

These  lessons  Thou  dost  give 
To  teach  me  how  to  live, 

To  do,  to  bear, 

To  get  and  share. 

To  work  and  play, 

And  trust  alway. 

What  though  I  may  not  ask 
To  choose  my  daily  task  ? 

Thou  hast  decreed 

To  meet  my  need. 

What  pleases  Thee, 

That  shall  please  me. 

Some  day  the  bell  will  sound, 
Some  day  my  heart  will  boundj 

As  with  a  shout 

That  school  is  out 

And  lessons  done, 

I  homeward  run. 


190 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY   LIVING     , 

Emancipation. 

Why  be  afraid  of  Death  as  though  your  life  were 

breath ! 
Death  but  anoints  your  eyes  with  clay.     O  glad 

surprise ! 

Why  should  you  be  forlorn  ?     Death  only  husks 

the  corn. 
Why  should  you  fear  to  meet  the  thresher  of  the 

wheat  ? 

Is  sleep  a  thing  to  dread  ?     Yet  sleeping,  you  are 

dead 
Till   you  awake  and   rise,  here,  or  beyond   the 

skies. 

Why  should  it  be  a  wrench  to  leave  your  wooden 

bench, 
Why  not  with  happy  shout  run  home  when  school 

is  out  ? 

The  dear  ones  left  behind !     O  foolish  one  and 

blind. 
A  day — and  you  will  meet, — a  night — and  you 

will  greet ! 

This  is  the  death  of  Death,  to  breathe  away  a 
breath 

And  know  the  end  of  strife,  and  taste  the  death- 
less life. 

191 


THOUGHTS   FOR   EVERY-DAY  LIVING 

And  joy  without   a  fear,  and  smile  without  a 

tear, 
And  work,  nor  care,  nor  rest,  and  find  the  last  the 

best. 


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